Lap Band

[Dunce]

There is a Lap-Band System infommercial on TV right now. What's up with that?

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[AzMichelle]

There is a Lap-Band System infommercial on TV right now. What's up with that?

I think the more interesting issue is the fact that more and more people are going to Mexico for the surgery. Albeit LP or GB. There are some really fantastic places in Mexico doing LBs, GB, plastics, dental, vision, etc. There are also some pretty creepy places doing the same. But that holds true in the US as well.

 

[kaos]

There is a Lap-Band System infommercial on TV right now. What's up with that?

Yeah, I thought that was wild.

 

[FliteSurgn]

I think the more interesting issue is the fact that more and more people are going to Mexico for the surgery.

As some insurance companies stop offering bariatric coverage, the patients start looking for cheaper options than paying cash here in the US. Not infrequently, the patients looking south of the border may have also been declined operative intervention here because they don't meet the NIH criteria for morbid obesity.

The sad thing about having a LapBand in Mexico is that with that surgery, follow-up care is crucial. The care is crucial to having a good outcome because, as the name implies, it is adjustable. To make the damn band work, it needs to be adjusted several times to tailor the band to each particular patient. These poor(?) patients drive back across the border and end up on our doorsteps for their adjustments. So, they want to transfer the liability of caring for them longterm without the benefit of getting paid for doing the surgery. Most LapBand surgeons will not see patients that had their bands done in Mexico for that reason. Emergencies excepted, of course.

 

[Iquitos]

As some insurance companies stop offering bariatric coverage, the patients start looking for cheaper options than paying cash here in the US. Not infrequently, the patients looking south of the border may have also been declined operative intervention here because they don't meet the NIH criteria for morbid obesity.

The sad thing about having a LapBand in Mexico is that with that surgery, follow-up care is crucial. The care is crucial to having a good outcome because, as the name implies, it is adjustable. To make the damn band work, it needs to be adjusted several times to tailor the band to each particular patient. These poor(?) patients drive back across the border and end up on our doorsteps for their adjustments. So, they want to transfer the liability of caring for them longterm without the benefit of getting paid for doing the surgery. Most LapBand surgeons will not see patients that had their bands done in Mexico for that reason. Emergencies excepted, of course.

I agree with this post. I have a buddy that is starting GSurg and is considering doing lap bands later on. I know a person who went to mexico for this procedure. While the care in mexico was great, he did have a difficult time finding someone to is adjustment fills.

 

[Winged Scapula]

Sort of off-topic, but it was interesting to me to find out that if I provided all the post-op care for a patient operated on by another surgeon, I would not be paid for those services unless the primary surgeon coded for "surgery only" (which of course, they would never do).

Came to bite me and my partner when we agreed to cover for a local surgeon who ended up having tons of post-op complications. We got paid for the one patient we needed to take back to the OR, but all the other in office wound checks, seroma drainages, debridements, etc....FREE. We have since given up that practice (ie, of covering for this person).

 

[ESU_MD]

I dont personally think the band is good for long term weight loss, but I would offer it to patients if they wanted it. It is better for me to put it in and follow them (and convert them to roux en-y) than some guy in a garage in mexico.

The lap band is a joke of a procedure, usually 40 mins skin to skin with the
R-3 doing the case. Chiefs residents can do it in 30, and I assume the attending can do it in 25.

The hardest part is getting the sub-cu port sewed onto the fascia in these thicker patients.

BTW- has anyone ever popped the band while sewing it in>?

 

[Castro Viejo]

BTW- has anyone ever popped the band while sewing it in>?

Haven't popped the balloon, but I have sewed the port in upside down... Found out post op when we tried to access it to take the balloon down and hit the backside. Oops.