Looking for a surgeon in NM

I know that your post is a little old, but thought I would add my 2 cents.  Dr. Acosta at Del Sol is my doctor and I had the lap band on 9/24/07.  He is really a great surgeon, I only had to take the pain medication due to a headache in the hospital and other than that I had no pain at all.  I have had 2 fills and he does not use the florscope, just goes in and does it all pain free.  I was way impressed with his skills. On the down side, the appointments do take a long time 2-3 hours, but that is because you see the nurse, nut and then the doctor. Other than that I have no complaints.  Hope this is not too late to help you out.

Hello It is my understanding that there are no doctors in NM that do bariatric surgery according to a women i met at Sierra Providence in El Paso...she had come from Albquerque.  I just had lap-band 1/7/08 with dr. applebaum through sierra providence.  I felt ok with him but during my hospital stay, the staff offered really great things about him...and working with doctors i know you don't have to offer info and so when they did and had a very high positive regard for him that impressed me.   It is also my understanding that Del Sol doesn't have the greatest supports...I don't know that is hearsay but I have a friend that is a eating disorder therapist in LC and she does not think highly of Del Sol...but I have no personal opion other than I called them to see when their support meeting was last week and they do not have any schedule right now (even though I went through Sierra Providence, I thought I would attend both Del Sol and Providence's support groups-more the better, right?) The other thing about Sierra Providence, and I don't know if this was some kind of fluke-but I went to one of their info sessions (and I saw on something that they offer them in Alb once in awhile) they gathered info from me-health info and doctors names.  I know they requested records because a couple of my doctors told me, but i don't know if they received any.  So I all of sudden got a call from them about 5 weeks later and my insurance had approved the surgery!  I had a BCBS NM plan and then changed before having the surgery to another BCBS NM plan and they still approved it with no problem!  Which for others it is very difficult! Anyways, being in Rio Rancho you should have a lot of options-AZ, CO, and NM... Good luck to you

We do not have a Dr. here but we used to. I talked to a women at the movies that said one just moved into town from Montana but I was unable to find him.  I think she was lying because she said she would send me a message on the site but I have not got anything as of yet, that was like 3 weeks ago.  I am having mine done through Pres in Lubbock w/Dr. Frezza.  I am still waiting on my date.

Hi Jeni, As far as I could tell researching NM doesn't have any surgeons.  I have presbyterian and I am going to Lubbuck to have my surgery with Dr. Frezza.  Here is a little information I have found out. Maybe this will help you a little.  I did a lot of research on the procedures and Dr. Frezza before I agreed to have him as my surgeon.  Like you, I live in Rio Rancho and felt that was a long way to travel.  After meeting with him I know I made the right choice.  We went over all the options and figured out which procedure was best for me since I live so far away.  There was the lap band, the lap band with the partial sleeve and the Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy.  He no longer does the Gastric Bypass.  We felt that with me being so far away it wasn't really practical for the lapband with the fills and possible port blockage etc.  With the combination of the two you would still have the same problem and have to go back every so often for the fills. But with the lap band the procedure is reversible.  We chose to do the sleeve which is removing 85% of my stomach and it is shaped like a banana. The intestines are not rerouted so you don't have the dumping syndrome and the vitamin difficiency is lower than with the gastric bypass.  There are only about 15 doctors worldwide that perform this surgery from what I have read and many insurances still won't approve it.  Dr. Frezza was one of the doctors who actually was involved with creating this procedure. His office staff is great and Krysta is extremely helpful. You have lots of forms to fill out and many test to get completed.  Once that is done Krysta will compile a "packet" for the insurance company and submit it.  Sometimes it takes the insurance a while to approve it.  I was actually approved with my first letter. I just have to wait for the official letter that the insurance company said they were sending the surgeon then my date will be set. Being that you are in the same town if you ever need someone to talk to just let me know.  Send me a message and I will give you my phone number.  Maybe we can become a support system for each other.  Good Luck. Debra

Ok, I had not read this before. You have pres, Are they now paying for the sleeve? I was told that they do not cover the sleeve, If they do I want that. Please let me know. ASAP. Thanks

These posts are super slow. But since there has been activity here is my update. I went with Dr. Acosta at Del Sol. They got me in quicker than Lubbock and have been wonderful so far. I have almost finished my pre-reqs. Psych eval is today and then I am done. We will see how slow the insurance and Dr. submission of paperwork is. We will go from there. So far so good. I am happy with Dr Acosta and his staff so far and I am very hard to please as I have worked in healthcare over 20 years and am very judgemental. Good luck with your endeavors. Cindy

Their isn't any who does WLS in NM.  I ended up going to El Paso for my surgery.  I was considering lapband and at the last minute change to RNY.  Good Luck on finding a surgeon.

My daughter is having a lapband placed in El Paso, I loved her surgeon Dr. Clapp.  He works with the group at Providence hospital.  I would recomed him to anyone looking for a surgeon.  He stayed late and spent about 30 mn talking wiht my daughter and I just getting to know my daughter and make her feel comfortable.

Thank you for that- I will  have to check him out :)

Dr's Michael Orris and John DeBarros in Phoenix, AZ are my doctors.  Great guys!! www.WLIAZ.com