A bandster's opinion on getting banded in Mexico vs. U.S.

[abbypoo 0]

I thought I'd write this post because before I had my surgery I seriously considered getting banded in Mexico. As a full-time student who was self-pay, the lowest price was DEFINITELY a consideration for me. In the end I ended up driving six hours from my home in Wisconsin to Detroit, Michigan. While I did not go to Mexico for my surgery, I still went far from home and aftercare in Detroit was not an option for me.

Of course I did all my research and lined up a surgeon who would do my fills after surgery at pretty reasonable price. I have no complaints about my aftercare physician or my whole lapband experience in general. But this post isn't about the quality of care in the United States vs. abroad, it's about fills.

Since I was banded in August 2010, I have had to go the surgeon for fills/unfills at least six times, maybe more. I have only lost 42 lbs thus far, so I'm sure I can count on going at least a few more times before I am at my goal weight. The point here that I'm trying to make is that when all is said and done I will have seen my fill doctor almost 10 times.

This is important to take into consideration when you're thinking about getting banded abroad because you either have to pay for a plane ticket each time, or usually pay a lot of money for fills because the few doctors who actually do fills on patients banded out of country, charge anywhere from $100 to $500 per fill (the average range being $150-$300).

Before I got banded and I was thinking about going to Mexico I knew I would need aftercare, but I didn't think I would need to go so often. Now I am not saying everyone will need as many fills as me, in fact, some people never have any. What I am saying is that it should be taken into consideration before making the decision of where to get your surgery... because getting fills will almost be guaranteed to be both inconvenient and expensive.

Thanks for listening to my two cents,

Abby

[Caimenmom 0]

I just thought i would post my two cents so that we would have 4 cents. I had my band 4 months ago in Tijuana Mexico. The bottom line was i am self pay and it cost me $6,000. The cheapest i found in my state of Arkansas was $14,500. I could have went to Texas and get one for around $10,000. Aftercare in Texas was not included and the drive would have been 6 hours. I get my aftercare in Oklahoma ,a 3 hour drive, and a fill visit costs $160. Even if I do have 10 fills until goal thats only around $2,000 dollars with gas to travel to Oklahoma. Thats only $8000 for band, fills, and gas for travel. Compared to the $14,500 for surgery and 1 year of aftercare in Arkansas. I Think it all depends on the level of risk a person is comfortable with. I knew if I had complications I would have a hard time finding help. So far I have not had any problems. Ive had one fill, done under fluoro and have lost 40 pounds. I have 60 more to goal.