Help Please! Sleeve in Mexico?

[sukik 59]

Have a low BMI. I went for a consult today. The doctor won't do a sleeve. Will only do a lap band. I really want the sleeve. I heard about Dr. Guillermo Alvarez in Mexico an read his reviews - all 700 of them. They were incredible reviews. The US doctor says going to Mexico would be suicide and that a doctor who did a sleeve on me would be tantamount to malpractice. What do you think?

[MeganC 62]

I think your US Doctor is being an ass and does not know what he is talking about. There are thousands of people getting the sleeve in Mexico and how many have complications.. a whole lot less then the people going to the doctors in the states. Go to a well known experienced doc and you will be fine. I will be in Tijuana in 2 weeks and am perfectly happy with my choice At least my Doctor has done this surgery 2500+ times. I doubt any US Doctor can say the same thing.

[MeganC 62]

Good luck... keep your options open

[Kindle 8,667]

I think your doctor is an incredibly ignorant prick. I guarantee my surgeon has done way more successful bariatric surgeries than he has. In fact, Dr. Ariel Ortiz worked directly with the person who developed the Lap-Band, Dr. Mitiku Belechew, and he has proctored hundreds of surgeons around the world in laparoscopic surgical technique. He is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and a full member of the American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery. Both he and his co-surgeon, Dr. Martinez, are SRC Surgeons of Excellence in Bariatric Surgery and their facility, Obesity Control Center is a SRC International Center of Excellence. They have done over 12,000 bariatric surgeries. That's a lot of dead patients we don't ever hear about If they were all on "suicide missions" like your doctor stated.

I could go on about credentials, but bottom line is OCC's complication rate is 1/100 of the US average. If you are interested in 1st hand accounts, check out the "Dr. Ariel Ortiz and Obesity Control Center" thread on here. I'm not trying to dissuade you from going with Dr. Alvarez, I just wanted to let you know there are, in fact, very good surgeons in Mexico and your doctor is an ass for saying otherwise.

There are some sketchy surgeons, too (in EVERY country, including the US), so do your research, ask tons of questions, and you will find the surgeon you feel the most comfortable with.

Edited August 24, 2014 by Kindle

[Pepper123 320]

Honestly i don't think the doctor is an 'ass"...u went to him seeking advice and u got it....No major surgery is not with out risks...And no amount of credentials and service of excellence can prevent accidents...In the USA or Mexico..now we are talking about Mexico How transparent are they?...Ive heard great things about the doctors in Mexico but also negatives.....its up to u to be proactive and research as much as u can...For ME when cash is involved i get jittery..thats just ME...here's hoping that ALL goes well for u...good luck!!

Edited August 24, 2014 by Pepper123

[Kindle 8,667]

Honestly i don't think the doctor is an 'ass"...u went to him seeking advice and u got it....No major surgery is not with out risks...And no amount of credentials and service of excellence can prevent accidents...In the USA or Mexico..now we are talking about Mexico How transparent are they?...Ive heard great things about the doctors in Mexico but also negatives.....its up to u to be proactive and research as much as u can...For ME when cash is involved i get jittery..thats just ME...here's hoping that ALL goes well for u...good luck!!

Really? You don't think him saying "going to Mexico is suicide" isn't an asinine statement? At the very least it's racist and to me that makes him an ass.

[Tamlyn 107]

I can't comment on your doctor, or tell you what to do, but I can tell you that I went to Dr. Alvarez about a month ago, and he and everyone else that I met there was totally professional and they did a great job. I have zero complaints, my incisions are small and healing really well, I haven't had any complications, and even the remote follow up care has been good. He's returned my emails within 12 hours, and he releases you with a detailed description of what was done, including a chart of where the incisions are and his card in case you have any problems after you get home and a doctor here needs to consult with him.

The facilities there are just a hospital where the primary language is Spanish. It's not really much different from the American hospitals I've been to, and honestly, the worst part of it was that the travel was kind of inconvenient (not on his end, the shuttle service is perfectly nice, we just had a two hour drive, a three hour flight, and then another two hour drive... it was just a long day). But it's not a shady, back alley kind of deal. I know some people get really panicky about going to Mexico, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little skeptical myself when I first looked into it. I think it's from a combination of lack of real information/understanding, and just plain fear. I would probably not have seriously considered it either, if I could have afforded the $25k to have it done up the street, but in retrospect, I truly don't believe I would have gotten better care here than I did there, and I'm glad I went. I'm almost a month out, and I've lost 25 pounds since surgery (37 total, including the pre-op diet), and I am really happy with how things have gone.

You should totally do your homework on it, and read as many reviews of as many doctors as you need to to feel like you're making an informed decision. But don't let your doctor scare you off from even considering it. There are some genuinely good surgeons in other countries, too.

Good luck with your decision making!

[Kindle 8,667]

Thanks for sharing, Tamlyn. Glad you had such a good experience and are recovering well. I have had really good postop communication with OCC, too. No complications, just questions on my part. I think the really good surgeons do "stand behind" their work, no matter how many miles in between.

Good luck with everything!

[almosthome 91]

What are your stats (height, weight, body fat %)? Do you have a small or large frame? A good surgeon will consider all of those things in determining whether you are a good candidate for VSG. If you don't have much to lose, VSG could actually be dangerous, leading to malnourishment and a too-low BMI. Two family friends struggled with this after their surgeries (despite starting BMIs over 35) and one still fights to stay healthy. Get a second opinion in the U.S. before insisting upon the VSG. Perhaps look into something like the stomach balloon you can get in Canada.

Even surgery at the best hospital with the best surgeon in Mexico is risky, if only due to the language barrier (staff might be proficient in English but most likely won't be fluent), travel required soon after surgery (significantly increases the risk of clots), and limitations of follow-up with the surgeon who actually did the procedure. Complication rates will be more inaccurate than in the U.S. for a variety of reasons, and malpractice records could be more difficult to find. Also, I hate to say it, but 'medical tourism' surgeons fiercely protect their online reputation and routinely have negative reviews/posts removed or edited by bariatric surgery forums, which receive a great deal of their advertising revenue from foreign surgeons and want to protect themselves from libel lawsuits. Patients are often prohibited from posting their negative experiences publicly when there is pending litigation or as a condition of settlement, or they might, too, fear a libel lawsuit, even if everything they write is accurate. There are old, buried posts on this website discussing major complications after surgery with Dr. Alvarez. Example. Try using Google to search this forum for more recent posts regarding Alvarez and complications. That said, it is possible Dr. Alvarez has improved over the years and that to you the risks are worth the savings in going to Mexico, should you ultimately decide to go with VSG.

I sincerely wish you the best and hope you will choose a procedure safe and appropriate to your low BMI.

EDIT: I don't necessarily recommend that particular clinic for gastric balloon; it just had a page listing the appropriate BMIs and weight loss goals for the balloon. As always, do your own research.

Edited August 24, 2014 by almosthome

[AllThatGlittersIsntGold 8]

Really? You don't think him saying "going to Mexico is suicide" isn't an asinine statement? At the very least it's racist and to me that makes him an ass.

My uncle is a US surgeon, when I told him I wanted to do this surgery he said I would have an extremely difficult time getting it approved by insurance and that my best bet is to start saving, and to pick a surgeon I feel comfortable with. I told him I'm going to a center of excellence in mexico, which he said means nothing.. He did say that gastric sleeve is the golden standard for weight loss surgery as far as he knows. I'lll be going for the vsg with Dr.Ortiz.

Edited August 24, 2014 by AllThatGlittersIsntGold

[jjinWA 511]

I had my surgery in US. All went fairly well, despite a serious bout with dehydration that sent me to the ER. I have had one followup with the surgeon... Well actually his NP. Guess he was too busy to see me. I am almost 3 months out. I hear good things about the surgeons in Mexico based on comments on this site. It seems they hear more from their surgeons across the miles then I do from my own surgeon who lives across town!

[2late4bed 37]

Have a low BMI. I went for a consult today. The doctor won't do a sleeve. Will only do a lap band. I really want the sleeve. I heard about Dr. Guillermo Alvarez in Mexico an read his reviews - all 700 of them. They were incredible reviews. The US doctor says going to Mexico would be suicide and that a doctor who did a sleeve on me would be tantamount to malpractice. What do you think?

I think maybe your doctor may have meant that your BMI is much too low to consider VSG and why he is recommending gastric band if anything. That way if you start losing too much weight the band is reversible while the VSG is not. It could be that he didn't mean to imply anything derogatory toward Mexico doctors at all just warning you of the dangers of a much lower BMI and an irreversible weight loss surgery. I prefer to give people the benefit of the doubt. Remember he said, "any doctor who did a sleeve on you would be tantamount to malpractice". To me he is referring to the risk of you having the surgery period with your BMI, and not the location of the surgery or ethnicity of the surgeon.

Edited August 24, 2014 by 2late4bed

[Kindle 8,667]

Allthatglitters....

http://www.obesitycontrolcenter.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Ortiz-Proctored-List.pdf

[Cody's mom 247]

I think your doctor is a cash grabbing ass! Maybe just a little jealous he's not as qualified as the Mexican doctors. Jealousy can be an evil thing on some people!

[Tinita 1]

Very true Meagan ! I'm going to Cuidad Juarez. Mexico too !!! I'm going for gastric bypass with Dr Rodtiguez