I was talking to an acquaintance who has had the Lap Band procedure, and she said that when she moved, she couldn't find a doctor in her new area who would do a fill because they hadn't performed the surgery themselves. Is this a common thing, or an isolated incident? I want to get the surgery, but I'm planning on moving to a different state in about a year.

Thanks for your help!

Gil

Hi GillianQ,

I'm in a similar boat. I'm having my surgery done in Mexico by Dr. Ortiz, and I live in Indiana! I'm going to him for several reasons but the main one is that I'm self-pay, so my local docs were cost-prohibitive. I'm going to use the Fill Centers USA for my fills/aftercare. They're easy to find, and they have many locations across the US. Unfortunately, there are none in Indiana currently, so I have to travel to Illinois for the closest one to me. Dr. Ortiz will actually do free fills for life, I just have to pay the cost of the x-ray (fluoroscopy) but it may not be worth it for the cost of the travel, we'll see. Hope this helps! :tongue2:

I had my surgery done in Mexico by Dr. Rumbaut, and his office helped me work this out before I had my surgery. They had relationships with two hospitals here in NYC, and so I was able to get in with the team at NYU and book my first checkup before I got banded.

I would see if your doctor can help you with a referral. Honestly, the NYU team refused to schedule an appointment for me until after my doctor's office called them to straighten things out.

I don't have much insight on the matter but I know my dr. office does it... I saw a sign posted in the office regarding the subject. I guess it's just something you have to look into. Maybe your Dr. can help you and has relationships with someone in your state?! Just a thought!

Thanks for your help, guys. I was planning on asking my doctor, but wanted to check here in the meantime to see if other people had this problem.