Tell me about your Louisiana Dr, lapband, I am looking.

OK, as some of you may know my DH is looking to get this procedure (lapband) done and we are looking to choose a Dr.  He has no health insurance so we are self pay.  If anyone is close to us can you tell me about your Dr, why you like him, why you chose him, do you know his price for self pay, what is is after care like, how is his reputation, how many bands he has done, ect....  Also, we are an hour away from New Orleans, La so anyone close by.  So far he has gotten information from Dr. Tom Lavin and he appears to have done many of these surgies and has a good reputation and he is thinking of going to talk to him.  His self pay price is $13,500 with aftercare.  Anyone got any good info for me? Thanks so much, Danielle

Hi Danielle - I had gastric bypass so I am not very knowledgeable about lap band.  I know my surgeon, Dr. Richardson at Ochsner, also does lap band.  He is very good.  I have also heard good things about Dr. Lavin.  Sorry I don't have more info for you.  Good luck to your husband!

Howdy, Danielle I'm nearly three years postop LapBand surgery and my doctor, Dr. Karl LeBlanc, and his partner Dr. Mark Hausmann, practice in Baton Rouge. I've had a very positive experience with this practice and their aftercare program. These two surgeons pride themselves on providing all the pre-op, operative and post-operative care of their patients and they perform their own fills. This is very important to me. Last year, they had a self-pay price of $12,500 with aftercare. When you look into prices, please be mindful of aftercare and if any of that aftercare is given my support staffers or by the surgeons themselves. I do value support staffers, but what level of care you get for the same or near the same price should be taken into account. If you have any specific questions or want a contact number, please PM me and we can talk more. I wish you and your husband well. Frances

Dr. Lavin converted me from LapBand to Bypass a few years ago. Another surgeon (don't know where he is now but I hope not practicing) did my band. My complications weren't necessarily from his surgical technique but he did extremely poor follow-up that caused me problems. Once I switched to Dr. Lavin, he worked with me for a year before converting me. He has an excellent bedside manner and surgical skills. I heard a few months ago that Lavin is exclusively doing bands now. When I had my band, he was the only one who could get into my port for the adjustments.

I was banded 2/25/08 by Dr. David Treen at West Jefferson Medical Center. He was recommended to me by my Cardiologist. His office performs the LBS at a few hospitals. Check out www.sclaweightloss.com/ for more info about his whole staff.

Hello Danielle, I had my lapband done at Southwest Medical Center in Lafayette, LA. My doctor was Dr. Chu. She was great. Their self pay price is $14,365. This inculdes the following year's worth of doctor visits and fills! After the first year fills are $100 each time. There were a couple nutrition classes I had to pay for in the pre-op stage that were $25 and $35. And the psychological exam was $50. My pre-op tests were covered by my insurance, I was only required to do blood work and a chest x-ray. Below is their website. http://www.sswmc.com/ ~jamie