Need Lapband Surgeon in Jacksonville

I have completed my 6 mo. physician supervised diet and am ready to proceed but am not sure if I want to stick with the surgeon I originally met with. Does anyone have a suggestion for a lapband surgeon close to Jacksonville? Thanks!

I see you have Dr. Overcash listed.  The next thought would of course be to suggest Dr. Jawad who is also in Ocala.

Dr Steve Webb. Until very recently, Dr. Webb was the ONLY one in Jacksonville doing LapBands. He and his colleagues are great and provide excellent follow up care. The post op group via the clinic are great too.
He is associated with LAPWSL. This is the clinic that does all the work ups and insurance coordination.
Their number is 904-367-4443.

Hi Cindy:  You said "until very recently"....I was banded in November, 2005 which was almost 2 years ago.  I wasn't banded by Dr. Webb as he had done less bands than the surgeon I chose.   And you mentioned the LAPWSL group.  I think Dr. Webb's patients still have to go thru that office in order to see him and there up front fee has been as much as $2500 and got down to $1700, though I don't know what it is now.  That's a costs that the insurance doesn't cover and my surgeon's cost is $200 up front. With Dr. Webb's fee, they tell you that you will have lifetime follow up.  Well, that means you can talk to the nutritionist any time.  The time limit for talking to the psychiatrist is limited to a few months (or used to be) and the "follow up" with Dr. Webb as far as office visits and fills is the usual insurance co pay.   You do get access to all of the support group meetings but they're not offered by Dr. Webb's office.  It all goes thru the Laproscopic office, which used to be in Orange Park and is now on the Southside of Jacksonville.  Dr. Webb's office is on the Southside so that makes things much more convenient.  The two offices are still about 10 miles apart but it used to be more like 30 miles. Anyway, when I got my surgery, Dr. Webb had done 4 bands and my surgeons had done 40 and I Googled them both and made a choice.  But the competition is getting stiffer here in Jacksonville.  We now have Dr. Herrera and his associate at St. Vincent's doing bands and the new guy is town is Dr. Marema who has his practice in St. Augustine but has done or been a part of 5500 wls surgeries.  Isn't that amazing?  This man has been doing these surgeries for a long time, obviously. I don't know how many bands Dr. Webb has done now but my surgeon is in the 400s with 30+ bands over RNYs.  My surgeon just recently (in April) got an associate as business was pickin' up and I know Dr. Webb has an associate as well.  My surgeon only does lap band, but most other doctors will do bands or RNYs and the St. Augustine doctor does the sleeve, as well. And my surgeon did his first band in June of 2004 when it was just him and I guess Dr. Webb was doing them back then as well....though he didn't mention much about them in his seminars.  But we do have other choices now and I'm happy about that.  The decision may be more difficult since we now have more to choose from but that's a good thing.  I think you should get to every seminar offered out there before you make your decision and then go back a second time to make sure the doctor wasn't having a bad day when you saw him the first time.  But that's just my opinion. So, that's it from me in Jacksonville.  Things are lookin' up here and the choices are now more plentiful. La Wanda 308/220/200

Thank you, I'll look into both of these. Now that I have the 6 mo. diet done I want to proceed as fast as possible.

Dr Juan Cendan is a bit closer than Ocala. He's in Gainesville. Hour and a half from JAX.  I trust him implicitly, he's done hundreds of cases and even patented some of the instruments they use laproscopically . His office number is 352-265-0604. The bariatric coordinator is Amelia. Ask to speak with her.

Thanks, I'll give his office a call!

Dr. Overcash was my surgeon for open RNY.  But I know a wonderful Lap Band surgeon in Jax.  His name is Dr. Robert Cywes.  I know many people who have had him as their Lap Band surgeon.  I have met him several times and he is wonderful.  His office is on Beach Blvd. in the St. Nicholas area.  3236 Beach Blvd.  ph 399-4004.  Sometimes it takes his staff a little while to get back to you but if they don't call you back the same day call them again the next day.  Good Luck to you on your decision.  He also has seminars and a support group.  Several other support groups have been started in the Jax area by his pts. If you would like to attend one email me.  [email protected] Kat   

I really hate to tell you this but I don't think you should have done all the 6 month medically supervised before you decided on a surgeon.  See, I have Aetna HMO and back when I had my surgery, I had to do 6 months as well.  My surgeon, whom I chose before I saw my PCP to start the ball rolling, told me to do 3 months with the PCP and finish out the time thru him which meant I'd have my first appointment with him this month, the appointment with the psychologist and nutritionist the next month and then my pre op appointment the following month and I'd be ready to go.  In the meantime, he ordered blood work, chest xray, sleep study....all the things I needed for pre op testing.  That way I didn't have to waste any more time. But now that you have the 6 months done and over with, you need to decide on a surgeon and get the surgery lined up so tht your insurance company doesn't come back and tell you the 6 month supervised was too long ago.  Mine had to be done within the last 2 years. I posted to Cindy after she posted to your post (whew) so I hope you got a copy of that.  As a support group leader, I urge people to attend all the local seminars TWICE. The doctor may be having a bad day the first time you see their presentation so don't make your decision on one seminar attendance.  AND start going to support group meetings pre op.  That's where you get lots of questions answered.  Its like OH people live and in person.   If I can help you in any way or you'd like to be a part of our support group (and I suggest you get involved in as many as you have time for), please let me know.  I'd be happy to help in any way I can.....as would anybody in my group. La Wanda

The reason I did the 6 months was because I was going to have the bypass and I had already been to a surgeon and was getting things rollilng in that direction and I just changed my mind. I just couldn't do it when I felt the lapband was so much safer. So, now I'm in the process of looking for a lapband doctor.  Thanks for all of the info. I'm going to see when I'll be able to attend a support group, I think that will really help me.