Thinking about Dr. Lopez-Corvala in TJ Mexico?

[DixyChixy1966 0]

I am extremely interested in your experience and what your sister thought of the clinic as my girlfriend and I are planning on going to Dr. Ortiz in September. It is completely nerve wracking trying to figure it all out! Please please keep in touch and let me know how your experience went!

Good luck on the 18th, I hope to hear you are happy and have no regrets!

Looking forward to hearing about your experience when you feel "up to" letting us know about it. :rolleyes2:)

[WASaBubbleButt 41]

Hello,

I have read everyone's reply about Dr. Corvala (bad and Good). When I decided that I would have my lap band in Mexico, I set out to research doctors as I would hear in California. I actually called Allegan and verified that he is indeed a proctor for them, I have a friend who called the Mexican Board of Medicine and found out that he has a valid medical license. I beleive that Dr. Corvala is definetely experience and skilled enough to perform this surgery for myself. I think educating myself about the surgery itself, the possible complications and researching doctors who practice in Mexico (which is quite challenging) helped me get to where I am in deciding to have Dr. Corvala perform my surgery on 04/23/08.

For those who gave negative feedback about Dr. Corvala. I would like to know what complications you had. Having this information is helpful for me and others who really want to make the right decisions for their healthcare. I would like to know what complications you had because it will help me determine 1. Was it really "surgeon error" or was it just a complication that occurred? 2. Is the complication manageable if it happens to me? and 3. Does these complications make me not want to have the surgery? I am not trying to get in your business but it think you really could shed some light on the negative feedback for many who read this. I for one am a surgical nurse, and I need to know more objective information before I can make a decision.

All docs have their good qualities and bad (like all people) and not every surgery will go 100% ok, however, the personality of surgeons especially, is that they are perfectionist (most don't believe they are capable of making a mistake) so they think immediately that it is the patient must have done something.

Resi

His erosion stats are of great concern. I'm talking the REAL erosion stats, not what is claimed.

There are great surgeons in Mexico, isn't it wise to pick one of the best docs?

When I got my band it was with the intent of keeping it and not losing it to erosion, but YMMV.

[WASaBubbleButt 41]

I do know that my doctor has performed several corrective surgeries for patients who initially had their bands placed in Mexico. I'm sure there are good doctors but I'm sure there are some bad ones. I just hope people get educated before having surgery and not just go solely based on recommendations.

I agree with you not to go on recommendations alone but to be honest, my Mexican doc has fixed the botched surgeries of US docs as well. US docs are infamous for claiming ALL of Mexico is bad because they fixed some problems yet I've not heard any Mexican docs saying all US docs are bad because they have fixed a few of their mistakes.

Yes, there are some great docs in Mexico but you have to do your research. You can't just hope for the best, you have to do your legwork. People are no better about doing their research on Mexican docs than they are their US docs. Someone goes to a seminar, likes the doc and swears he's "Top" in his field, or a "Leading" surgeon. And based on what? They like him? As I've written far too many times, I like my neighbor a lot but that doesn't mean I'd want him operating on me.

US docs are losing a lot of business to Mexico and they try all kinds of things to make it sound like merely going to Mexico is dangerous. My doc has more experience and better stats than 95% of US surgeons. Does that make US surgeons bad? Of course not. But one needs to use common sense when choosing a doctor in any country including their own.

Resi has some interesting medical knowledge that is not known by your typical, standard issue patient, it makes me question why one would defend going to a doc with less than a great reputation when they have so much medical knowledge. Know what I mean? (wink wink nudge nudge)

Now, as far as people who work for some of these doctors posting on the forum, my thought is that they should be required to clearly disclose this information with each post in a signature block or some place in the post.

Well if they did that then they couldn't claim to NOT be a coordinator but someone posing as a patient instead. ;o)

[88KEYZ 0]

I want to know everything about the Doc and your stay, etc. I will be there having mine by him on Saturday the 19th!!!! Please tell me everything.

[anonymous_frnw 0]

I had my surgery done with Dr. Lopez and had a great experience; however, was overcharged by belight aka belightus.com waaaaaaaaaaaaay more than other patients did (think $400 more) and when I told them about it, they just blamed it on the failure of the other doctors….

I would recommend Lopez, but do your search first and try to get it cheaper (I think worldmed.com). Good luck.

[twobytwo 0]

How did it go

[88KEYZ 0]

I have lost 19 pounds at this point. My surgery was 4/19 in Tijuana at Hospital Angeles with Dr. Corvala as my surgeon. He was fabulous. The hospital, staff and all involved were wonderful. I feel so much better, have had no difficulty at all. I am following a guideline of eating by John Hopkins University from a google search for lap-band diets. Also, I have a copy of Emory University Hospital's diet for lap-band. They are very similar and if you follow these diets by the book, you should do great! I am so happy I did this, I would absolutely do it again!

[Nurseygirl 29]

Dr. Corvala performed my lapband procedure on 04/23/08. Everything went well. I think he and his staff were very professional. I am a nurse and I have been in some really crazy looking hospitals, but this was the best one I have ever been in. I was very comfortable. I had an uncomplicated recovery and went back to work on 04/28/08. So far I have no reqrets.

As far as the patient care, I think they need to be more culturally sensitive and get more education about pain management. I also suggested that they have an English version of their procedure consent forms. Those were my only issues that I had. I got the pain management that I needed but I just had to be more proactive about it. I made them explain the consent form in debth. They didn't like having to do it, but I told them that in order to fully inform patients who do not speak or read Spanish, this is what they just have to indure while suggesting that the include an English version in the future. They were nice about everything.

Resi

Banded on 04/23/08 by Dr. Juan Antonio Lopez-Corvala at Angeles Hospital

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[want2beme 2]

Glad to hear your surgery went well. I was at Hospital Angeles today for a fill. I saw Dr. Corvalla... he's a very nice man.

I have a few questions for anybody who wants to answer:

1) What causes erosion?

2) What is Dr. Corvall's erosion rate?

3) As of TODAY, how many surgeries has Juan done?

4) If you had complications with your Corvalla surgery, when did you contact them and what was their response?

5) When you say you 'almost died', do you mean on the operating table? What happened? After? Infection? Reaction to meds? Please tell me...

6) Are there any surgeons in the US that have had zero pt erosions? If so, please give me their names. (My friend is having surgery soon...)

I'll share with you my stats when you respond. Thanks.

[88KEYZ 0]

Dr. Corvala was the kindest and most caring doctor I have had. He even brought his son up with him and we had a wonderful visit. Dr. Corvala is a wondrful doctor and spoke lovingly with me and my sis-n-law among other patients with us that weekend. --- People are people, all can have a bad day, you overheard something, professional or not, the point is, there is more to what you heard than you even know about. Don't judge people on one episode, if you do that just think how others will judge you in the wrong scenario. English - Spanish - French - who cares....people are people and we must consider the source and surroundings.

[Nurseygirl 29]

Glad to hear your surgery went well. I was at Hospital Angeles today for a fill. I saw Dr. Corvalla... he's a very nice man.

I have a few questions for anybody who wants to answer:

1) What causes erosion?

2) What is Dr. Corvall's erosion rate?

3) As of TODAY, how many surgeries has Juan done?

4) If you had complications with your Corvalla surgery, when did you contact them and what was their response?

5) When you say you 'almost died', do you mean on the operating table? What happened? After? Infection? Reaction to meds? Please tell me...

6) Are there any surgeons in the US that have had zero pt erosions? If so, please give me their names. (My friend is having surgery soon...)

I'll share with you my stats when you respond. Thanks.

Hello,

I was banded on 04/23/08 by Dr. Juan Antonio Lopez-Corvala at Angeles Hospital. I recieved my 1st fill today (06/02/08-2.2cc). You have asked really good questions. I can answer some of the questions that you ask, but only a few. Dr. Corvalla said his erosion rate is 6%. He has done quite a few lap-bands, more that most MDs who do them here in the states. The reason being that he has been doing them a lot longer and this makes his erosion rate higher than the average (3% for most doctors who have done 3 times less).

I have read different medical journals, about the topic of erosion in lap bands. There are hardly any research articles that discuss erosion in debt but I did find one. Erosion cases in Europe (comprehesive of studies in UK and Germany) were studied in debth this was published by the New England Journal of Medicine in 2005. This article state that 90% of the studied band erosion cases the cause are unknown. There are many reasons that are believed to be the cause of erosion (high acidic diet, immune responses, over production of the acid in the stomach, enzyme abnormality, infection and the most popular, "the unknown". The misconception that when erosion occurs it is always the surgeon's fault is untrue. In fact only 1% of these lap bands erosion occuraces were the surgeon's fault. When it is the surgeon's fault it is because they place the band too low. I will get you the volume and issue #so you can read it. It is very long though.

I don't know any surgeons who specialize in laproscopic adjustable lap band procedures who do not have an erosion that has not occured. Given the article I read, it really doesn't matter.

Tell your friend that he/she should do the research themselves before choosing the surgeon who is going to do it, its more authentic and going off a suggestion or promoter of other people can be disasterous. This website has a lot of suggestions on how to go about researching surgeons.

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[MacMadame 81]

Dr. Corvalla said his erosion rate is 6%. He has done quite a few lap-bands, more that most MDs who do them here in the states. The reason being that he has been doing them a lot longer and this makes his erosion rate higher than the average (3% for most doctors who have done 3 times less).

I'm sorry but that makes no sense. If you do more surgeries, you will have more erosions in absolute numbers but your percentages shouldn't change.

Here is how it works:

Doctor A in 2005 has done 100 lap bands. Has 3 erosions. Erosion rate is 3%.

Doctor A in 2006 has done 200 lap bands. Has 6 erosions. Erosion rate is 3%.

Doctor A in 2007 has done 300 lap bands. Has 9 erosions. Erosion rate is STILL 3% even though he now has 3x as many erosions as he's had before.

If Dr. Lopez-Corvala's erosion rate is 6% -- double that of the world-wide average, then he's got some explaining to do because his erosion rate is entirely too high.

[snowbird 2]

The higher the number of occurrences, the MORE true the average. If I've only done 20 surgeries and have one erosion, then my stats are skewed to 6%; it may happen that I don't have an erosion for the next 50 surgeries, but for a moment my stat was 6%.

If I've done thousands of surgeries and my erosion stat is 6%, then that is a true indicator of my skill.

[MacMadame 81]

That's a good point, snowbird. I talked to a surgeon's office that was very proud of the fact that they had a 0% erosion rate. But they'd only done 50 bands! Plus they hadn't been doing them that long and some erosions happen after a few years. That's just not a big enough sample size to know what his true rate is.

[Christal 0]

I wonder if all erosions are documented? I mean a lot of the people that go to Mexico are from the US. If they have it removed in the US or don't go back to the dr that placed it is it documented??