Partial sleeve

I recently heard a story on a forum that said some surgeons, that charge in the lower price ranges in Mexico, are cutting corners by not sleeving the entire 75-80% of the stomach, that they are only removing say 25% and plicating the upper portion of the stomach.  After about a year, their is no longer a restriction, and people have regained their weight.  They say the reason they do this is because the titanium staples are so expensive and this cuts down the cost tremendously. I am truly worried and don't know how to make sure that I won't be taken in and need to be "re-sleeved" in another year or so.  My surgery date is within a week, and now I'm very concerned.  Does a copy of your surgery and x ray confirm that the surgery was done properly?? Please, if anyone can give me some insight, it would be much appreciated.

That makes no sense to me.  Whether they cut a little or a lot, there is still the same effort involved.  Plication is something completely different and also takes extra effort, not to mention if it's not covered by insurance there are fraud liabilities.  In other words, doing the procedure in which you describe does them no favors, and being in the US, they are subject to legal suits unlike the foreign surgeons.

Did the person posting the story cite any sources? Rumors fly like crazy, especially on the internet, and without any sort of reference I'd be extremely skeptical.

If you are concerned, I would suggest contacting your surgeon directly to ask how the procedure is done. Might as well get the information straight from the source, rather than faceless folks on the internet :)

A couple of thoughts...

1) if a surgeon in Mexico is going to claim to do one surgery and then actually perform a different surgery, I don't think he would be beyond falsifying a surgical report and/or X-ray... So I don't think those things are going to be proof that you were, indeed, properly sleeved.

2) I agree with Val... That doesn't make any sense.  It period actually be more complicated for them to cut the lower portion and then do the plication on the upper portion. If the staples are really that expensive, it would make more sense for the surgeon to do ONLY the plication.

3) Even if a surgeon DID do that, I don't understand why there would be no restriction after just a year. Unless, perhaps, they are using some sort of dissolvable suture material for the plication...?

I think you either trust the surgeon you are going to use based on his medical expertise and his "references" or you don't. If you don't trust him 100%, I wouldn't do the surgery with him (regardless of whether the surgeon is in Mexico or in the U.S.)!

Lora