Choosing a doctor

I am really interested in having the Lap-Band surgery. I have only heard of two surgeons in the Jackson area, and some in North Mississippi. Can I get opinions from the two in Jackson?

Disclaimer: I had my surgery (RNY) at Keesler in Biloxi. Dr. Salameh does lap-band at UMC. He is excellent, tho the wait to get surgery may be quite long and tedious. If he does your surgery, you will be hospitalized at UMC and you will need to have someone that is vocal with you in the hospital most of the time - esp at night. Dr. Carroll does (or did) lap band and he is with St Dominic's or River Oaks (I think - it's that hospital that is about a block behind Lakeland Drive). I hear he is good also. Does Dr. Cleveland or Dr. Cummins (At CMMC) do lap band? They are good also. good luck to you and keep us posted on your progress! smoochies Arlies

Dr. Cleveland and Dr. Cummins both do lapband as well.

ADAM: What is the cash-pay price? Other doctors will tell you their price and what it includes over the phone.....sooo there should be no reason for CMMC not to. I have called numerous times and they keep telling me to attend your seminar. This is not right. If you have a cash-pay program, you shouldn't be afraid to tell interested folks about it. Also, since your physicians just started lap-band in August 2006 at CMMC, I am curious to know if they have prior experience at other hospitals (besides INAMED training) with the lap band procedure? Thanks.

Dr Salameh did mine. He is great and he has wonderfull and helpful staff. He has been doing it for a while because that's the first thing I wanted to check. The process was not long for me and took about 2 months from the time I saw him. I guess the evaluation process will depend on your health condition.. Good luck

IMO....I'd be careful with Dr. Cleveland's CMMC group. I have read of several major complications that happened with their RNY surgeries that appear to be the result of physician incompetency. Like Michelle's cut colon. And, on Macy's aorta being cut and a major butcher job. (read the old posts). I could be wrong...and, Michelle, I know you can better add to this, but after what you went through, do you still see Dr. Cleveland's group? I am very impressed with Dr. King and Dr. Byers in Oxford, MS. I went for a pre-op visit and Dr. King was very professional and experienced....with over 150+ lap band surgeries done...not to mentione RNY for many years. His clinic is certified with the American Bariatric Assn...as a "center of excellence"...or something which means he and his staff have met very stringent criteria setforth by the ABA. By the way, if you're self pay, Dr. King's group is very forthright and will give you their fees and what it includes in writing upfront. From what I have heard, Dr. Carroll in Jackson is also very experienced and well respected, but his cash price is quite a bit more than the Oxford group. Just my two cents....

I highly recommend Dr. Avara in Ocean Springs. I had the RNY lap, but he also does the lap band. It was a long way from Vicksburg to go to Ocean Springs / Pascagoula for surgery, but I think it was well worth it. BTW I believe at the initial consultation / seminar they said the lap band is 15,000 and you would go home the same day.

Dr. Carroll is a wonderful surgeon. You won't be disappointed. E-mail me privately if you have any questions and I'll be more than happy to answer them.

Hello...I see you are using Dr. Carroll for aftercare and are self pay. I too will be self pay due to a written exclusion for WLS...and will be using Dr. King in Oxford because he is significantly less expensive than Dr. Carroll's cash pay lap band price. I am thinking that after the first year, I'll probably want to switch to someone local for aftercare/fills (rather than a 3 hr drive)....and was thinking about using Dr. Carroll. I saw you went to Mexico for initial surgery...was Dr. Carroll open and pleasant to followup you post op, after you'd used a different surgeon initially? Also, just curious, with your slippage and self pay, about how much did your band slippage emergency surgery cost? I hope I'm not being too nosey, but concerned because I don't have a lot of extra money to pay for complications afterwards, should something happen and it worries me, and just wanting to think long-term "big-picture" worst case scenario etc. You can email me privately if you wish at [email protected]. Thanks!