Lap band surgery, also known as gastric banding, is a type of weight loss surgery in which a silicone band is placed on the upper part of the stomach to restrict its food holding capacity. Lap band surgery got FDA approval in 2001. Although the gastric banding process is reversible and hence considered a safer option, it is not for everyone. In this article, we will look at the risks of lap band.

A review conducted by a team from the Department of Surgery, University of Minnesota, on lap band surgery reveals that excess weight loss stood at 47.5% for gastric banding, 61.6% for gastric bypass, 68.2% for gastroplasty, and 70.1% for duodenal switch. Therefore, patients who need to lose more weight might want to consider other bariatric surgeries. 

A great deal of the safety and success of lap band surgery depends on the post-operative care. Gastric band patients should be willing to follow a disciplined lifestyle after the surgery, which includes proper diet and exercise. Therefore, people considering low cost lap band abroad would do well to understand the lifestyle changes they would be required to make, before taking the decision to fly abroad.

Contraindications for Lap Band Surgery

If the patient has co-morbidities like severe heart and lung problems or is under 18, lap band may not be a good choice. Other contraindications include inflammatory conditions in the gastrointestinal tract, pregnancy, cirrhosis, and alcohol/drug addiction.

Risks of Lap Band Surgery

As with any other surgery, gastric banding has some risks. Any individual considering lap band surgery must consider these risks and have a detailed discussion with his/her doctor.

The common risks associated with lap band surgery are:

• Infections. Strict sterilization and post-operative co-operation on the patient’s part are both important to avoid infections after the surgery.
• Success of the surgery also depends on how your body responds to foreign objects implanted in the body.
• Slippage of band or its erosion or deflation may occur, and revision surgery may be required to correct that.
• Improper placement of the band may cause obstruction of the stomach
• Nausea, vomiting, difficulty in swallowing, or loss of energy may occur due to this change in your digestive tract.
• Tear in the wall of the stomach (gastric perforation), which will necessitate another surgery
• Blood clots
• Wound rupture

Most people today prefer laparoscopic gastric banding, which results in smaller scars and quicker recovery. However, there may be some risks associated with the use of laparoscopes. Some of them are:

• Damage to the spleen/liver
• Damage to major blood vessels
• Accidental perforation of stomach or esophagus

If these occur, the surgeon might decide to ‘open’ the surgery site to complete the procedure.

In case alarmingly rapid weight loss occurs, you may have to get the band deflated and may require an additional surgery.

Other occasional risks of Lap Band

• Dumping syndrome, a common side-effect of weight loss surgeries (symptoms include bloated feeling, diarrhoea, dizziness, nausea/vomiting, sweating and palpitations) is not generally observed after lap band surgery. However, it may occur in rare cases.

• To avoid vomiting (emesis often accompanies lap band surgery), many people resort to high-calorie semi-liquid diet. This can lead to regaining of lost weight.
• Malnutrition, anaemia, and depletion of vitamins. There is more chance of this happening if the weight loss is very rapid.
• Blockage/swelling of the port site 
• Incorrect positioning of the band, leading to stretching of the esophagus
• Excessive inflation of the band
• Enlargement or twisting of the stomach pouch
• Inflammation of the esophagus
• Inflammation of stomach, a hernia-like situation where some part of the stomach slips above the diaphragm
• Inflammation of pancreas
• Abdominal pain
• Chest pain
• Fever
• Dehydration
• Fatigue
• Flatulence
• Irregular/abnormal stools
• Stomach upsets
• Belching
• Rashes
• Swelling
• Painful periods
• Pain in the port site

Lap Band Risks Compared to other Bariatric Surgeries

The study by the Department of Surgery, University of Minnesota  puts operative mortality (death within 30 days of surgery) at 1 out of thousand (0.1%) for purely restrictive procedures like gastric banding, 5 out of thousand (0.5%) for gastric bypass and 11 out of thousand (1.1%) for duodenal switch.

Why Follow-up is Crucial after Gastric Banding?

Post-surgery care and follow-up are essential for the success of lap band surgery. Not only must the patient be ready to follow the prescribed diet and exercise habits, but regular visits to the lap band surgeon and other health care experts including dietician are necessary too. The surgeon will make periodic adjustments to the band so it makes the correct fit. If you are lacking in essential nutrition, you will need to make changes accordingly. These measures will help to minimize side effects, detect serious problems if there are any, and optimize your weight loss.

Some people regard lap band surgery as a less drastic measure compared to gastric bypass surgery, where mortality rates are said to be 1 out of 200. On the other hand, we saw that weight loss rates are lower for lap bands, compared to gastric bypass and other bariatric surgeries. Lap band should be considered only as a tool in implementing more discipline to your eating habits.

One must consider all the risks associated with lap band surgery and assess follow-up arrangements before making a decision on the potentially life-changing gastric banding.

Looking for an experienced lap band surgeon in Mexico? Then allow this post to enlighten you on how to go about finding a renowned surgeon for getting a lap band in Mexico. Many people from the United States choose to have weight loss surgery in Mexico. Their primary motivation is the lower costs for the surgery in Mexico. Lap band surgery costs around $4,000 in Mexico whereas it can cost anywhere from $10,000 to $14,000 in the USA.

Selecting a Gastric Band Surgeon in Mexico – Factors to Consider

• The surgeon should have qualified in the field of bariatric surgery from an accredited medical school. Verify that your surgeon is certified by a medical board. If possible, go for an INAMED certified surgeon. INAMED (now Allergan) is a global leader in manufacturing obesity intervention products. Its bands are the only FDA approved lap bands.
• The best lap band surgeons in Mexico are the ones who have performed more than 500 surgeries. The more experienced a surgeon, the less are the chances of any complications occurring during or after the surgery. When verifying the experience of a lap band surgeon in Mexico, see if you can get testimonials of current patients who have undergone weight loss surgery in Tijuana, Cancun and other parts of Mexico.
• While comparing leading gastric band surgeons in Mexico, you should prefer surgeons who are experienced lap band proctors. A lap band proctor is qualified to teach other surgeons about performing the lap band procedure. Obviously, it is better to be treated by the instructor rather than by the student.
• You should look for a bariatric surgeon who knows English. Although this might sound like a weird requirement for a surgeon, it is really quite important. You want to be sure that you understand everything the surgeon tells you about postoperative care and diet. The surgeon should also be able to understand and allay any concerns you raise about the surgery. So, unless you are proficient in Spanish, it is important that your surgeon has a working knowledge of English.
• The hospital or medical facility that the surgeon performs the procedure at also tells a lot about him. A surgeon practicing in a quality hospital will usually be a better choice. Good hospitals have an added quality requirement of their own for who can practice at their facility.

Popular Bariatric Surgeons in Mexico

Some of the popular bariatric surgeons in Mexico are: Dr. Alberto Aceves, Dr. Alejandro Aguirre, Dr. Guillermo Alvarez, Dr. Javier De La Garza, Dr. Armando Joya, Dr. Pedro Kuri, Dr. Roberto A. Rumbaut, Dr. Gilberto Ungson, Dr. Sergio Verboonen, Dr. Miguel Angel Rojas, Dr. Miguel Zapata, Dr. Ariel Ortiz Lagardere, Dr. Jaime Ricardo Ramos-Kelly, Dr. Jose Rodriguez, Dr. Felipe J Cantu, Dr. Andres Betancourt, Dr. Francisco Contreras, Dr. Mariano Covarrubias, Dr. Jorge Cueto, Dr. Sergio De Leon, Dr. Martin Lopez Dominguez, Dr. Miguel Herrera, Dr. Jose Ibarrola, Dr. Buenaventura Leal, Dr. Narcizo Leon, Dr. Eduardo Lozano Gonzalez, Dr. Sergio Mascareno, Dr. Nelson Rodríguez, Dr. Rodolfo Sanchez, Dr. Fernando Serrano Berry, Dr. Salvador Valencia, Dr. Alejandro Weber, Dr. Sergio Verboonen, Dr. Roberto Rimbaut, Dr. Aniceto Baltasar, Dr. Olga Gomez, Dr. Juan Antonio Lopez Corvala. Many of them are INAMED certified surgeons.

Some of the different cities across Mexico that these bariatric surgeons practice are: Mexicali, Ensenada, Piedras Negras, Puerto Vallarta, Monterrey,Tijuana, Hermosillo, Ciudad Juarez, Acuna, Reynosa, Guadalajara, Zona Rio,Huixquilucan, Canun, Garza Garcia, and Hato Rey

If you are planning to visit Mexico for lap band surgery, make sure that you take the above factors into account. One of the best lab band surgeons in Mexico who scores high on all of the above factors is Dr. Juan Antonio Lopez Corvala. Dr. Corvala has performed more than 5,000 lap band surgeries.

Medical-Trip facilitates low-cost lap band surgery in Mexico. For more information, fill the estimate-request form on the right. 

Lap band surgery started in USA in year 2001 after FDA approval, but this weight loss surgery in Mexico has been performed for many years before that. The primary reason why Americans opt for lap band surgery in Tijuana is the lower price. While the surgery costs around $12,000 in USA, lap band in Tijuana, Mexico costs just a fraction of the figure.

As per an article by Remy scalza, published in The Washington Post on March 4, 2011, the price of procedures in Tijuana is only about 50 to 60% of the American prices.The Mexican border town is preferred primarily by patients from California and other western states in the USA. This is because Tijuana is within driving distance. There are no border charges for entering Tijuana.

Getting Lap Band in Tijuana – Things to Consider

• When considering lap band in Tijuana, Mexico, it is important to choose your hospital carefully. Be sure to choose a fully integrated hospital rather than a clinic. This way, you would not need to be moved in the rare case of an unexpected complication occurring during surgery. Ideally, the hospital should have ICU, MRI, Blood Bank, X-Ray, Pharmacy, and doctor’s offices, all at the same location.
• You might want a friend or relative to accompany you when you go for lap band in Tijuana, Mexico. Therefore, look for a hospital that has boarding arrangements for a guest accompanying the patient. In addition, you should also ensure that the hospital staff where you plan to get your lap band in Mexico speaks and understands English and not just Spanish. This is important for clear and open communication between you, your surgeon, and the other hospital staff.
• Before agreeing to a Tijuana lap band surgery, review the track record and reputation of the hospital you are considering.
• In addition to the hospital, you should also be careful when selecting your surgeon for lap band in Tijuana, Mexico. Verify the credentials and surgical experience of your surgeon.
• The best surgeons for Tijuana lap band surgery have experience of over 500 surgeries. Ideally, you should look for INAMED (Allergan) or John Johnson certified surgeons. INAMED is a global leader in manufacturing obesity intervention products. Both Allergan & Johnson Johnson lap bands are FDA approved.

An example of an international quality hospital with leading lap band surgeons is Hospital Angeles. Hospital Angeles is a popular choice for lap band in Tijuana, Mexico. It is a one-stop hospital with the latest technology and is fully equipped. All doctors practicing in Hospital Angeles are certified by the Mexican Medical Board. More than 50% of its patients are from outside Mexico.

Gastric banding in Tijuana may be the right choice for you especially if you are located in western USA and require a weight loss surgery.

Travelling to Tijuana for Lap Band Surgery

Proximity of the Tijuana border to the USA allows easy access for Americans. Flying into San Diego (Airport Code SAN) followed by ground transportation  is one of the most popular means.  Lap band packages in Tijuana include hotel, ground transportation and more.

Medical-Trip facilitates low-cost lap band surgery in Tijuana, Mexico. For more information, fill the estimate-request form on the right. 

Lap band surgery is the answer to the prayers of many patients suffering from morbid obesity and related disorders, such as hypertension and heart disease. In lap band surgery, an adjustable band is placed around the upper region of the stomach to restrict food intake and help patients feel full sooner. As a result, patients experience a dramatic reduction in weight within a period of six months to two years. The results of the lap band surgery are permanent. However, the cost of lap band surgery is quite prohibitive in the USA leading patients to look for cheaper alternatives elsewhere. But is cheap lap band surgery really possible? Does quality suffer if you opt for cheap lap band surgery? Not necessarily.

In the USA, the cost of lap band surgery ranges from $20,000 to $30,000. Moreover, health plans, such as Medicare and Medicaid, cover the cost of the surgery only if you can prove dire medical necessity. This means your BMI has to be higher than 40, and you should be able to demonstrate a history of previous attempts at weight loss. Any patient who does not meet these requirements does not qualify for health plan coverage for the surgery. This effectively puts lap band surgery out of reach for many patients in the USA. An alternative they have is to get lap band in Tijuana, Puerto Vallarta, New Delhi, Mumbai and other medical tourism destinations where it costs much less than in the West.

Some people believe that the low price is a trade off for quality in these places. Let’s examine some of the reasons why quality does not need to suffer if you go overseas for cheap lap band surgery.

The main reason that countries like Mexico, Costa Rica, and India are able to provide cheap lap band surgery is that the general cost of living there is lower than in USA. This means the cost of almost everything such as hospital prices, surgeon’s fee, food, and boarding is generally lower in these countries than in USA. What this does NOT mean is that the quality of the hospital or its services are in any way lower than that available in the USA.

In addition, the bands used in Mexico, Costa Rica or India are the same as the ones used in USA. So you need not fear that an inferior quality band is being used in cheap lap band surgery. If in any doubt, you can crosscheck with your surgeon about the band being used. The FDA approved bands are INAMED and Realize. The INAMED band is produced by INAMED Health, which is now owned by Allergan. For a long time, INAMED was the only FDA approved band. The Realize adjustable band is produced by Johnson & Johnson’s (J&J) Ethicon Endo-Surgery (EES) subsidiary. FDA approved the Realize band in September 2007

Another good reason for traveling overseas for cheap lab band surgery is that the surgeons in these locations are in many cases more experienced than surgeons in USA. This is because FDA approved lap band surgery in USA only in 2001. However, in Mexico for instance, lap band surgery has been successfully performed since 1996. This means bariatric lap band surgeons in Mexico have more than 10 years experience in this surgery as compared to 5 to 6 years experience of US lap band surgeons.

According to a study by C. Cornell and colleagues, Bariatric Institute of Chicago, Hinsdale, examining the results of lap band two years after the surgery, published in the July 2012 edition of Postgraduate Medicine, lap band “safely and effectively facilitated weight loss in morbidly obese patients, with clinically meaningful improvements in quality of life and obesity-related comorbidities”. Nonetheless, when traveling overseas for cheap lap band surgery, you need to be careful to choose only an international quality hospital and a reputed, top notch surgeon. For this, verify the track record of the hospitals and the credentials of the surgeons you are considering.

Cheap is a relative term; but if you compare the cost of lap band in the USA to that in Mexico, Costa Rica or India, it is cheaper by about 50% for the same quality of medical care.

Medical-Trip facilitates low-cost lap band surgery in India, Mexico, Jordan, and Belgium. For more information, fill the estimate-request form on the right. 

One of the most popular lap band surgeons in Mexico is Dr. Lopez Corvala. As lap band surgery is less invasive and safer than other types of weight loss surgeries, it is quickly becoming the most popular weight loss surgery. Due to the high cost of the surgery in the USA, a number of Americans visit Mexico for weight loss surgery, including lap band. Besides the low cost of lap band in Mexico, Americans can also curtail expenses and time related to traveling.

Key points to consider when looking for a lap band surgeon:

1. Education and training qualifications.

2. Surgical Experience, prefer 1000 or more surgeries in the area you are looking for.

3. Proctoring (teaching other surgeon) experience. Rare to find, but could be a very good choice.

4. Patient review and feedback.

5. Operating infrastructure (the facilities available at the hospital where he/she practices)

Dr Juan Antonio Lopez Corvala scores full marks in all three areas. A glance at his education and experience is enough to tell us why he is one of the top bariatric surgeons worldwide.

After his schooling in Tijuana, Dr. Lopez Corvala completed his medical training at the Medical School in La Salle University in Mexico City from 1973 to 1978. He was awarded the title of General Surgeon in 1984 by the National Mexican University. Dr. Lopez Corvala has been certified by the Mexican Board of General Surgery.

Dr. Lopez Corvala is practicing at Hospital Angeles, Tijuana – Mexico – a modern state of the art facility and the only all inclusive hospital in the whole of Baja California(which Tijuana is part of). The key to his popularity as a lap band surgeon in Mexico is his vast experience. He has over 15 years of surgical experience, including lap band, gastric sleeve, and gastric bypass surgeries. Dr. Lopez Corvala has performed over 5,000 laparoscopic surgeries and more than 1,500 lap band surgeries.

Another key reason why Dr. Lopez Corvala is such a popular lap band surgeon in Mexico is his extensive proctoring experience. For the past three years, INAMED has chosen Dr. Lopez Corvala as proctor in charge for teaching the lap band procedure to American surgeons. Being an INAMED Proctor is a tremendous responsibility as well as an honor. INAMED is a global leader in manufacturing obesity intervention products. Its bands are the FDA approved lap bands. In addition to training US surgeons, Dr. Lopez Corvala has also served as Professor of Obesity Surgery (Lap Band Placement) in Latin America and Europe.

Dr. Lopez Corvala is a member of several associations, such as the Mexican Association of General Surgery (AMCG), General Surgeons Association in Tijuana, Latin American Association of Endoscopic Surgery, International Federation of Obesity Surgery, and Council of Advance Bariatrics. Dr. Lopez Corvala also has a number of published works to his credit. His works include a chapter on Laparoscopic Cholecistectomy Complications in the Laparoscopic Surgery Book and Learning Curve in Laparoscopic Inguinal Surgery.

Along with his achievements and extensive experience, his courteous and reassuring nature is another reason why Dr. Lopez Corvala is such a popular lap band surgeon in Mexico. According to his patients, Dr. Lopez Corvala is “…courteous, understanding, and sympathetic”.

Medical-Trip facilitates low-cost lap band surgery in Mexico. For more information, fill the estimate-request form on the right.