Arizona's Premier LAP BAND specialist
Arizona LAP-BAND
| Would you have your surgery where you wouldn't drink the water? |
This is a band removed from a patient who had her surgery in Mexico by a surgeon who advertises heavily on the internet to potential patients from the United States. This is not the F.D.A. approved LAP-BAND, this the Swedish band, its United States version is called the Realize band. Some people think the REALIZE band is new, because the FDA just approved it. It is not. This is fundamentally the same band that was just approved by the FDA for sales in the United States. Our first look at this band was by removing infected ones from patients who had these bands placed in Mexico. The band does have some modifications in the US -- mainly to do with the port, not the band around the stomach. People go to Mexico because of price. We cannot compete with their price, but we can compete with the following: (a) FOLLOW UP: our follow up is done here, and is included in the first year for those who self-pay; (b) SAFETY: our safety record is outstanding -- we are regulated by a number of agencies, and you can not only drink the water but depend on our instruments being sterilized, the band we use with be FDA approved, and the nurses who care for you are real nurses with credentials you can count on. Our anesthesiologists are board certified and have outstanding training. (c) EXPERIENCE: there is no one in Arizona or California who have done more bands than we have. We cannot tell you how many the surgeon has done in Mexico. (d) COMPLICATIONS: Complications happen-- and while no one wants to think about them a well equipted facility is set up to deal with them. Is theirs? Do they transfer you back to the United States if you have a problem? Do they have working equipment? I remember wondering why the wall of the operating room was all glass - it was because if the electricity went out they would have light to operate by. In the United States our hospitals and outpatient facilities have back up generators and batteries. The surgeon told the patient that he used the Inamed LAP-BAND (the FDA approved device) but clearly he didn't. Why? Because the surgeon was able to purchase this band for less than the Inamed LAP-BAND. In Mexico the band is purchased by the surgeon, so the surgeon can make a profit by putting a less expensive band into the patient. In Mexico the surgeon buys instruments, so if they reuse instruments that are meant to be disposable then they make more of a profit. In Mexico the person giving you your medicine may not be a nurse, although they may dress in whites, because if they hire a nurse it costs more. Yet on the internet they advertise their services - and because there is no regulation on internet advertising for people outside the United States they can show you a picture of a hospital and then you find you are having your surgery in a converted house. |
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Many have asked why not go elsewhere to have their band? Why not go to Mexico? The reason is simple, the LAP-BAND operation is just the start of a journey. We believe after-care is more important than the operation. If you check the message boards you will see more slips, more erosions, and more dissatisfaction from patients who have gone outside the U.S. for their band. You simply do not get the aftercare program that you get here. Even for those who can find a place to do an "adjustment" in the U.S. -- that doesn't mean they have learned how to take care of their band, how to work with it. Learning how to use your tool is as important as getting the tool. Would you get a complex piece of equipment without learning how to use it? That is what the band is -- something placed inside your body. We believe the LAP BAND is more than an operation, and that it matters where you get your after-care. Centers who specialize in the LAP BAND, whose after-care is dedicated to the LAP BAND do far better than centers who do not. This is even true in the United States. Recently patients who had their original operation performed at the now defunct Wish Center were shocked to learn that the six small meals a day they were told to eat was incorrect information for LAP-BAND patients -- it was no wonder they were not losing weight. If you are from Arizona and want a LAP-BAND, find out why many are coming here for the operation, our center is dedicated to the LAP-BAND, no confusion about the information you receive from us. If you wish to have your operation in Mexico, then have your after-care there-- just know the risks involved. Because we cannot be assured of the quality of care of bands placed overseas or in Mexico we cannot assume the care of these patients.We have joined the majority of surgeons who will no longer do aftercare for those who have their bands placed outside the United States. We are happy to take care of patients who had their LAP-BAND placed from another surgeon in the United States. "I went to Mexico for my band, and came back to the United States feeling great. When I went to a fill center I was shocked to find out that the only thing the surgeons had done was give me five incisions and a port. No band! Then I discovered that the person who put the port in didn't want to put a band in because he had not been trained to do that in dental school." We believe the success of our patients is because of the aftercare our patients receive. Aftercare is more than an adjustment, it is the beginning of a lifestyle. Our aftercare program is directed for LAP-BAND patients -- from the internet, email, our books, support groups, podcasts, and private consultations -- it is designed to help you achieve your goal. Other people talk about their after-care program, ours works, and has been in place for years. Below see what a lady describes as she went to Mexico for her band: I had to take 1-2 days off work, get a plane ticket, fly thousands of miles, ride a bus to the border, cross the border, get a cab, find the doctor's office in a country where I don't speak the language, get another cab to the hotel, spend the night, get a cab to the border, cross the border, take the bus to the airport, fly home, rescue my car from the parking garage and go to sleep quickly so I could get up to go to work the next morning after traveling all weekend. Sometimes I even had to pay for fluoroscopy while I was there. But I was desperate to lose weight and determined to do what ever it took to accomplish that. It was a long haul for 0.5 cc of saline. There is more to aftercare than a fill. We believe this is a great time to teach patients how to properly use their band. |
What about aftercare? Results that you see above come not only from placement of a band, but from aftercare. Before 2001 the only place a patient could get a LAP-BAND was overseas or in Mexico. Since 2001 there are many surgeons in The United States who are experienced and qualified to place a LAP-BAND, and have full after-care programs. You don't have to travel overseas or south of the border to get aftercare. Still people are tempted to go overseas or to Mexico because of cost. We realize that healthcare in the United States is more costly, and the reasons are multiple; the important reasons are the regulations for our hospitals that regulate everything from the devices placed in patients (in the U.S. the only device approved is the Inamed LAP;-BAND) , sterilization of instruments, strict requirements on reuseable instruments, even regulations govening nursing care and the physicians. Isn't it nice to know the person giving you your medicine after surgery is a licensed nurse? What does that translate to? Safe surgery. Today financing is available that makes the LAP-BAND affordable with monthly payments that are less than most new automobiles. Financing is available for patients to have their operations in the United States- -why the United States -- because the finance companies know the quality of care received in this country. Az LAP-BAND offers: Safe surgery Experience Aftercare. |