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FINALLY decided on a surgeon

  1. hanna90
    hanna90
    After 9 months of research, I've decided to go with Liza Pompa. Here's why:

    1.She doesn't disable her youtube comments. I've seen several doctors disable their comments for their youtube videos which just seems really sketchy to me. Why disable the comments? What are they trying to hide?

    2. She has the nicest website by far out of all the popular Mexico surgeons, which tells me that she puts in time and money into her website which I appreciate. She even has a really well formated mobile site if you're browsing from your phone. I don't even think Kaiser has that nice of a mobile site.

    3. She's a woman. Lol. She has a very warm, welcoming and friendly smile that makes you feel like you're in good hands.

    4. She has a video on youtube of her doing the gastric sleeve procedure and everything looks super legit.

    5. The facility she works out of also looks very nice and it looks like they're in a nicer part of town. The walls have pretty, colorful paintings on them and it just looks like a place where you would feel comfortable having surgery. As far as I can tell, none of the other surgeons have taken the time or effort to decorate their workplace to make it more welcoming.

    These things may sound dumb and superficial, but I believe it's the little things that tell you a lot about someone's character and work ethic.

    What I don't like about her:

    1. It's extremely difficult to get ahold of anyone at her office. I'd be worried that if I needed something important that I wouldn't be able to reach them.

    2. She buys followers on facebook, twitter, instagram etc.

    3. She's expensive as fck. Like 7k. Ugh.

    4. She's not as well known or popular as some of the other doctors.

    5. I've read complaints that she doesn't make a "tight" enough sleeve (?)

    Does anyone have or know someone that has experience with her? If so, I would love to hear about it because I can't seem to find too many stories about people's experiences with her.

    Thanks

    xoxo
  2. Luann
    Luann
    Hanna, I don't have any direct knowledge of this surgeon. But I would say proceed with caution. If you have trouble getting ahold of her now, before she has you as a client and does not have your $ yet - don't count on it to get better once you have paid and it is all over. Maybe she will be fantastic, but you need to know she is reliable and 100% accountable & accessible. Things can go wrong no matter how good your surgeon is, and how experienced and no matter how great his track record is. Being able to get in touch with him or her afterwards - either in Mexico or after you return to the states - that is essential. My surgeon was always accessible to me, I developed a post op infection that became apparent a week later when I was already back home. Dr. Lopez was in touch with my US doctor and that was so important. I don't think it was any fault of his, I think there was a problem in the OR of the facility. In any case, his professionalism and accountability made a hard situation much better.
  3. Kindle
    Kindle
    I agree with Luann. If you can't get a hold of them now, you certainly won't be able to postop. Even being a year out, I can call either of my surgeon's, the followup doctor, office manager, patient coordinator or dietician at OCC and talk to someone immediately. Emails with the followup care doctor are always returned within 12-24 hours, even on the weekends. My surgeon coordinated with my PCP and gastroenterologist over a treatment plan after I developed a C.diff infection from a dental procedure months after my VSG and most recently over medications I needed to take for a compressed nerve in my neck.

    When I was looking for a surgeon in Mexico, I looked at much different criteria than you listed...
    Credentials and Experience (Fellow of American College of Surgeons, SRC Surgeon of Excellence in Bariatric Surgery, 20 years experience, 10,000 bariatric surgeries/1200+ VSG's, proctored US and Canadian doctors in laparoscopic Lapband technique)
    Complication rate (0.1% with no leaks or strictures reported)
    Technique (32fr bougie used and entire staple line is oversewn)
    Facility and staff (International Center of Excellence, bariatric surgical center with fully staffed ICU onsite, verified quality of surgical instruments, staplers, etc used, no more than 5-6 surgeries performed each day, 8 staff doctors including a cardiologist, 2 surgeons for every surgery, 2 anesthesiologists, follow up specialist, nutritionist, and everyone being English-speaking)
    Verified followup care (weekly and monthly followup surveys and easy communication through phone or email)

    And I got all of this for under $7000.
  4. Lee6Lee
    Lee6Lee
    The "tight enough sleeve" would be the #1 deciding factor for me, along with cost. Mine was $4,500 or so. And I've emailed my surgeon twice in Mexico and got a response soon after.
  5. nanfit
    nanfit
    hanna90 - I definitely agree with the other folks above who said if you are having problems with reaching her now, you will have problems reaching her in the future. I can email my surgeon and receive a reply within a few hours, and when I send him messages on Facebook, I usually get a reply back within the hour. After a year post-op, I can still reach him to ask him anything. Heck, he even sometimes messages me to ask me how I'm doing.

    A normal sleeve is 32F. It could be that she is still using the older standards. You don't want that.
  6. notlistnin
    notlistnin
    You may want to re-think your criteria for picking a surgeon. Money spent on a website is great, but that's not experience, and it makes no difference what the heck is on the walls if you have a complication. If an office isn't returning your calls NOW, in a timley manner, good luck after you've paid a lot ($7,000?!) of money. We are all here share our experience with you and hopefully help in any way. Going to Mexico was the best decision I ever made. NO REGRETS. Jan 10th will be my 1 yr and Its been amazing! (229 down to 134lbs) with NO complications. When I got back to the States and had my check up my internist said " Oh my, That's a good looking sleeve!" LOL Do your research!! My Dr. was Dr. Lopez, I know he works with his wife if you prefer a woman. We can only suggest who we choose and share our stories, but I hope this helps! Best wishes. Christina
  7. hanna90
    hanna90
    Thanks everyone! I didn't explain myself very well. OF COURSE I looked into her qualifications, complication rate, experience etc. and she does indeed use a 32fr boogie, that was one of the first things I checked out several months ago. She has a huge, beautiful facility that's considered a "center of excellence." The things I mentioned here as to why I ultimately decided to go with her is because those are the LITTLE things that stood out to me above and beyond everything else. So many of the Mexico doctors work out of a center of excellence & have lots of experience with a low complication rate so just based on that, you could really pick any one of them and it'd probably turn out fine. But for me, choosing a doctor was a lot like looking for someone to hire for a job based on resumes; if all the candidates graduated from ucla, all had a 4.0 gpa, and all had 5 years of experience, you could hire any of them and they'd probably be great. But if one of those candidates also had taken continuing education or had a long history of volunteer work, you'd probably hire them just because they stand out from the rest. But you wouldn't hire them solely due to their continuing education credits and volunteer experience. And to me, Dr. Pompa is like the candidate with the extra education credits and volunteer work. That doesn't mean that any of the other doctors are less qualified, it just means that I appreciate the fact that she's willing to go above and beyond standards and expectations. Hope that makes more sense!
  8. Kindle
    Kindle
    Hanna, thanks for clarifying! The things you listed as "pluses" for your surgeon had me a little nervous . And actually, there are not a lot of Mexico surgeons that work out of a Center of Excellence. Dr. Pompa and my surgeons (Dr. A Ortiz and Dr. Martinez) are the only 3 doctors in Tijuana that are both Bariatric Surgeons of Excellence and working at an International Center of Excellence. I guess I would just try and work out the communication issues ahead of time. It's been great peace of mind knowing OCC is just a quick email or phone call away.
  9. jpayne
    jpayne
    Hanna,
    I wish you well in your search. I went with a third party facilitator Be Lite Weight. Joann runs the business, she started it to help others, like herself, who have to pay for the procedure because insurance wouldn't pay for it. I called and talked with her and her staff MANY times. They book for Dr. Rodriquez and another doctor, both in Juarez or Tijuana. After surgery when I had some dehidration I called and they contacted the Doctor and one of the Doctors called me back within a couple of hours. (This way I never had to call out of the country) They called and checked on me many times, before and after surgery. The Hospital they use is Star Medica which is a legitimate hospital. (That is one thing one of our Mexican waitresses stressed to me when I told her what I was planning on doing. She said there are MANY fly by night surgeons in Mexico, that is for all types of surgeries not just bariatric). It is not ONLY for gastric surgery, but while I was there there were actually locals coming in like the ER. I even researched the hospital, which they have 7 Star Medica facilities in Mexico. Be Lite Weight picked me up at the El Paso, TX airport and drove me to the hospital and returned me to the airport a few days later. Everyone was very helpful and nice. The rooms there were also very comfortable and they had a Day Bed/Sofa in the room so my daughter could stay with me (not one of the horrible roll-a-way cots you get here in the U.S.) My doctors stats were less than 1% leakage for the sleeve procedure out of the thousands a year he does. That was one of my choosing factors.
    Anyway, good luck. Check out beliteweight.com for yourself.
  10. Glow14
    Glow14
    Is there anyone out there that had Dr. Camelo Ramos as a wls in Tijuana Mexico for the sleeve? Not much info on him. I am scheduled for surgery on the 19th of January 2015 at the Florence Hospital. I am so nervous. I am going through med tourism.
  11. hanna90
    hanna90
    Thanks so much for all your guys' helpful information! I'll definitely look into BLW again. Is their facility as nice as Dr. Pompa's and do they accept paypal? Because that was another thing I really liked about Dr. Pompa was that I could pay with paypal which felt safer than giving my credit card number out to Mexico or bringing that kind of cash over the border. Thanks!
    Here is a picture of the LIMARP facicility that she works out of.
  12. judyvsgx2
    judyvsgx2
    I hear she is a decent surgeon! Good luck
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