Open Vs Lap??

Hello all! I am glad I found this message board. I recently decided to pursue surgery with Dr. Aguirre in Mexico and self pay. I have done some research regarding it. I have not contacted him yet. My question is, I can not find where he does Lap RNY. Does he only perform open RNY? I know that there is not much of a difference between the two surgeries except open you get one big cut. Is the recovery worse? I always thought it would be a more difficult recovery. I was planning on being out of work for 4 weeks for Lap. Is that about right for open? Is there anything that is very different about having open instead of Lap? That is the only thing I am worried about after all of the research. I always heard that it was worse doing open and up until this week, I was prepared to have Lap until I had to self pay. Thanks for your help! Misty

Misty, Aguirre only does open rny. He's been doing it for about 20 years now. He's an amamzing surgeon and if you want more info on him, feel free to take a look at my profile. I had surgery with him in August. As for open vs. lap, there are benefits to both procedures. What you need to do though, is figure out which one is best for you. In most cases, lap is reserved for less over weight folks and open is for the larger people. Lap is difficult for larger people because they have a larger liver and it gets in the way of the instruments and makes it harder for the surgeon to navigate. Open is not as bad as you think. Yes, you'll have a large incision, but recoup time isn't all that long. Four weeks should be ok, but you'll still want to take it easy after that. It's not so much about the healing by that time, but more about your energy levels. Also, with open, you know that your surgeon can see exactly what he's doing with his very own eyes. Lap is good because you are back on your feet much sooner and don't have the incision line that you would with open. Lap is also good, because there's a smaller chance of infection and hernias. I hope this helped! Cheers! Lorraine

Exactly what Lorraine said, except don't bother checking my profile, I don't have alot of info there.... Dr A is great though, I had surgery 1 month and 5 days ago and I am doing great... Jeremy

I used Dr. Rumbaut in Monterrey Mexico for a Lap RNY. Did an excellent job. I weighed 320 before the surgery in July, down 86 pounds now. I have five small marks/scars on my stomach. Details are in my profile. An excellent job and excellent follow-up. -Pam

I had Dr. Rumbaut for lap RNY. As a nurse, I know that lap surgery is the way to go if you can afford it. I have only 3 visible small incision sites (one is in the belly button). Lap surgery is proven to give you much speedier recovery time and significantly less pain than open surgery. There are also less incisional complications with lap surgery (like future hernias, etc) especially if you have a very large abdomen. Big bellies tend to herniate fairly frequently due to the intense pressure the weight puts on the incision, and at some point in the future you would need a surgical repair of the hernia, if you developed one. I have no doubt that Dr. Aguirre is a wonderful surgeon, I have heard excellent reviews from his patients and I would have gone to him if I was not able to have lap surgery or wasn't able to afford it. Dr. Aguirre is significantly less expensive than Dr. Rumbaut, but I knew lap RNY was best for me, so I dug deeper for the money. I have not regretted choosing Dr. Rumbaut for one minute! SO if you can afford it, no matter which surgeon you choose, lap is the way to go! I wish you the best of luck! Bonnie