Bad Lapband experience

[WASaBubbleButt 41]

Ok, before this turns into a full out "witch hunt", can you please just keep your advice to the stuff that will actually help me going forward?? As opposed to mocking and belittling "the poor sap" who DUH! supposedly didn't do any research before "that sharp thingy went in"!!? No need for the nastiness. Please. I've already had enough just with the experience alone.

Gee, not only did I stumble upon the "worst surgeon in all of Mexico, nay the world", but somehow I must have got stuck with the worlds worst search engine too because NONE of this stuff about Huacuz came up all those nights I spent at my computer trying to Google him or his clinic PRIOR to my surgery. In all that time all I found was one negative thread on him, which was actually berating not him but his first partner from some 15-20 years ago. And in same thread, several bandsters came to Huacuz' defense so vehemently that I was left with the impression that he was genuinely and generally liked. My bad. All I could find on my surgeon were positive testimonials. I must be a complete idiot!!

FYI: my surgery of choice would have been Ontario, but being a single mom I couldn't afford to pay 3X what I paid in Mexico. As for scarring info, all the articles, websites, doctors, and doctor's assistants I researched and spoke to PRIOR to even deciding on the surgery, talked about only THREE incision sites, with the main port incision tucked neetly away in/near your belly button. I assumed that since this prodedure had been around for over a decade that the technique had been pretty much perfected and standardized. It never occured to me that a practicing surgeon would just go ahead an cut you right smack in the middle of your abdomen.

Well, what's done is done, and I have to live with these scars now. Thanks for all the sympathy, but if anyone has information for me that will actually cheer me up, or support me, as opposed to making me feel like this website's biggest loser (and I'm NOT talking pounds), I would appreciate it!

BTW: if anyone's interested, I know ALL about the gas introduced into our abdomen cavity during lapband surgery, and it's ill effects post-op. In fact a fine surgeon/researcher from Calgary wrote an entire article following an in-depth study on the post-op effects of said gas. He found that at least 20% of patients still suffered the shoulder pain as long as 5 weeks and beyond surgery. He also found methods in which these negative effects could be curbed or lessened by surgeons. Such as a) using less of the gas, :smile2: warming the gas prior to insertion, or c) removing as much as the gas as possible before suture. Unfortunately none of this can help me now, but I did send the entire article to Huacuz (in the hopes that he might consider reading it before performing any more surgeries).

Now if I could just find an article on proper surgical suture techniques for him...:biggrin:

Your attempts at redirection do not work on me. There are MANY threads on this website alone that tell the horrors of Huacuz. Just put his name in the search engine and you'll see.

People go to him because he's cheap and quite frankly, he's cheap for a reason.

I'm sorry you have horrible scars. As I wrote before, the man does plastic surgery as well. One can only imagine.

[CantB2noty 0]

Hey! I havent been banded yet, but am scheduled for the 24th. First, dang you got the rotten end of the stick, huh? I have had 3 abdominal surgeries and thought maybe I could help.

1)walk walk walk and eat Gas X. The combo really helped me with my hysterectomy. Also, rubbing my tummy gently in a circle with slight pressure really helped chase those darn air bubbles around and out. I was a great source of amusement to DH for all the wriggling and squirimin around to pass such a little amount but get such HUGE relief.. MEN!:smile2:

2) I used cocoa butter creme on my tummy during my pregnancy and every surgery since. While my scars are not invisable, they healed with no scar tissue bumps on the incision, they just look like a light red line. Plus my skin is nice and soft. I lost 70 lbs bout 3 years ago and had no hanging skin and am apple shaped.

3) I eat big huge bites of food and gulp not only liquids but food. I got myself some toddler silverware and a cute little salad plate to eat off of. Might look crazy when I start eating off of it, but darn it, I will learn to eat smaller bites.. And I am positive I will look crazier running to the bathroom gagging :biggrin:

I hope something, anything I said helps you. Tis a miserable time right now, but it will get better.... :thumbup:

[jbdiva8 0]

As for scarring info, all the articles, websites, doctors, and doctor's assistants I researched and spoke to PRIOR to even deciding on the surgery, talked about only THREE incision sites, with the main port incision tucked neetly away in/near your belly button. I assumed that since this prodedure had been around for over a decade that the technique had been pretty much perfected and standardized. It never occured to me that a practicing surgeon would just go ahead an cut you right smack in the middle of your abdomen.

Hey I also got my surgery done in Mexico but fortunately for me I had a more positive experience. I am really sorry that it isnt turning out the way you imagined. I also have 5 incisions. I havve one about an inch under my sternum, two tiny ones on each side of my abdomin, one 1 inch under my left breast and then the big one about 1 1/2 -2 inches about 3 inches ubove my belly button and to the left. I am pretty sure that the surgens in mexico dont really care about the incisions they just care about how the surgery went, I am just happy everything went so smoothly cuz when ur in another country things could go very badly! Good luck with the scars if u want a pic of mine let me know:thumbup:

[JosieK 120]

hi tinytina

re: your scars

i just had plastic surgery and based on my lapband surgery...i had a pretty dark pigment on my scars.

my plastic surgeon gave me a product called "Scar-guard". he said it is better then mederma, etc.

i'm not an expert on scars but mine are coming along really well. i put it on 2X a day. my scars originally were pretty big and they are really fading. i'm only 7-8 weeks out of surgery.

i'm sure you can buy it online or at pharmacy.

hope this helps

josie

[Jachut 487]

The scars worried me more than anything. Why I cared that my skin remain pristine when my gut was too fat to show anyway, I'll never know, but I did. And I was really upset when I saw them too.

But four years later, they're barely there. Well, you can see the port one, because my stomach is skinny enough that my port sticks out, sigh. But that's what you get - remain fat or decide you want some scars and a visible port.

The scars WILL fade with time, I have five and the only one you can even see is the larger port scar. Having five is quite normal. Even if they were badly done, they will lose their colour and fade lots with time.

[elcee 3,343]

I could be wrong but I don't think that there are too many people that only have 3 incisions. It seems that the majority of people have 5 - no matter how experienced their surgeon is. I also don't think that most people have one hidden in their belly button, for most the port scar which is the big one is higher up.