Gilberto Ungson Bariatric Surgeon MD

I was apprehensive to receive the surgery in Mexico. I had just read an article that was not favorable to the services I was requesting. I thought about all the things I have heard going wrong here in the United States and figured it was safer and cheaper to have the surgery in Mexico. I am so glad I did it. Compared to the hospitals at home, Mexicali is by far the cleanest. Other than one unfriendly nurse at the end of my stay, the staff was awesome. I have lost 53 pounds and I feel great. Thank you Dr. Ungson for all your kindness and concern during my stay. You put me at ease and calmed my nerves.

Hi there everyone
I had a gastric sleeve on June 25th, 2015. Dr. Ungson was my surgeon at Mexicali Bariatric Center.
This was the best decision that I have ever made in my entire life. Hands down. I do not have any regrets at all. Not only am I happy that I had the surgery, I am thankful and happy that I went with Dr. Ungson. I did a lot of research before I committed and I appreciated how professional, accommodating, and responsible this team was.
Everything went as planned. I was well taken care of, and the facility was beyond my expectations. I felt very safe, and I am so glad that I made this choice.
Their follow up care is awesome, it was not a "butcher shop", my room was so very clean, the nurses were so sweet. I could keep going and going. I believe that they changed my life. I have had multiple surgeries in the states and none of them compare to the treatment and care I received in Mexicali.

On the morning of April 30, 2015 Dr. Ungson did a revision to my gastric sleeve and also performed a DS. (This surgery was 2 1/2 years to the day after my first surgery, which was performed in Dallas.) What a difference!

I felt like Dr. Ungson, as well as the other doctors--Campos and Beltram--truly listened to me. During the initial fluoroscope they identified a problem with my first sleeve and they were upfront about the ramifications as well as how they would be able to correct it. They also addressed a concern I had regarding my prior surgery when I experienced excruciating pain in my left side about a week to 10 days after surgery.

On the morning of surgery everything proceeded like a well-oiled machine. Everyone was courteous, introduced themselves, explained what they were going to do and why. My inability to speak Spanish was never a problem.

When I awoke I was repeatedly assured that all was well. I was monitored constantly and the pain I had (quite moderate) was well-managed. Sweet Karla, the patient coordinator, called and spoke to my husband (I traveled to Mexicali by myself) to let him know that everything was fine.

I truly cannot say enough good things about the attentiveness and the professionalism of the doctors. They were patient, and kind, and never once acted rushed or distracted. Dr. Ungson told me that he had searched for adhesions which could have been the source of my prior pain, but had not found any. This leads me to the drain that he inserted during surgery. I believe that it was hugely beneficial to my recovery and likely the reason I haven't experienced pain even remotely close to my prior surgery. (And just as Dr. Beltram promised, it didn't hurt a bit when he took it out.)

And speaking of traveling alone...I'm really glad I did. Had my husband traveled with me, he would have helped me far too much. It was good that I had to get out of bed to retrieve something from my suitcase or plug in my laptop.

My care at Almater Hospital was exemplary. The hospital was spotless and well-staffed. I never once felt that my care was anything less than superb.

In retrospect, I feel a bit silly about having worried about going to Mexico for surgery and if the truth be know, I wish I would have had WLS surgery there the first time. I'm guessing that if I had, I would not have had to have a revision.

Thank you Dr. Ungson, Mexicali Bariatric, and the staff of Almater Hospital for a terrific experience!

Drs. Ungston, Campos and Beltran performed my re-sleeve and they all were so pleasant, genuine and caring. I truly felt I couldn't of had any better care. Seeing Drs. 3 times a day, I felt like I was a queen. They made sure absolutely every need or concern was handled. I think they are amazing and wouldn't recommend them to absolutely everyone!

I have gastric sleeve by Dr. Unison three weeks ago. I have had no complications, pain was tolerable, and now completely gone. I celebrated my twins birthday party last weekend with no issues in terms of limitations, other than no heavy lifting. I have lost about 23 pounds since my surgery, no issues with any of the first three phases of my new diet. Dr. Campos is wonderful and follows up regularly answering all your questions. The hospital stay was a breeze, I slept all night without any interruptions. The facilities are incredibly clean, everyone is very kind and polite. I have an M.S. and work in the healthcare industry, I research the facility, doctors, procedure, etc. in its entirety and felt comfortable with my decision. I do not regret my decision, I am so happy with my new found energy and additional mobility. I find it easier to eat by rules and keep my health in mind over cravings. If you are on the fence, pick up the phone, talk to the staff and the doctors, consult with you PCP.

I have had 3 WLS in Mexico. I rate the experiences good,better and best. The experience I had with Dr. Ungson and his team,I rate as the best. It is what I wish the other experiences had been. It was the closest experience to that which is received in the US.
Dr, Ungson,absolutely went out of his way to make it possible for us to use dates that had previously been booked and paid for as a vacation, so we didn't have to pay to change the flights. He was not supposed to work that week at all but made a huge exception for me. Tha meant a lot to us.

I was a revision from a procedure I. Had not requested,but received instead of what I did request. I was having complications and since Dr. Ungson also does the procedure I received,he knew how to revise it to the procedure I actuallyhad wanted. He is the only surgeon I knew in MX that I wanted to have do a revision for me.
Dr. Campos and Or Dr. Beltran or both! saw me three times a day while I was in the hospital and were very available the days I was at the hotel.
Nina,Carla and Yolanda and the driver were kind,professional friendly and everything else we needed.
I am 8 days post op as I write this review and am glad to pm with anyone on the site that is interested. I am Hollykim here.

Today, we set my husband’s date for surgery with Dr. Gilberto Ungson at Mexicali Bariatric Center. I remember that at this time last year, I was very afraid that I would not see my youngest turn ten (10) at her next birthday; let alone see the year 2015. I was very ill due to my Super Morbidly Obese (SMO) body. I could barely stay conscious after just a couple of hours of being awake. If I had to get up and try to function, I was dead tired a couple of hours later. I would go to take a nap and if my youngest daughter or others in my family could not get me up, then I would sleep 18 hours at least. Not just 18 hours that one day and be good to go for a while; but every time I was up for a couple of hours, I would be back in bed sleeping for way too long. If my family could manage to rouse me, I was back in bed a couple of hours later. Not a few hours or several hours later, but a couple hours later. My youngest would beg me and cry for me not to go to sleep before she got home from school because she would not get to see me yet again for another day. I slept that long. She was even afraid that one day I would never wake up. Everybody said I was suffering from depression, but I knew I was not depressed; just very, very tired. I felt tired and miserable all the time. My Primary Care Physician (PCP) could never find out specifically what was wrong with me. Of course, we all knew it had to do with my weight. In fact, when I told him I was going to Mexico to have Weight Loss Surgery (WLS), he told me he was for it as he was also afraid I would not make it much longer and I had nothing to lose.

I went on a self-imposed diet again and again. My body eventually got the point where losing and then bouncing back was no longer an option. My body had finally had enough and no matter what I did, not matter how little I ate, or how much I exercised; the weight just kept packing on. I finally got the point where just living was taking everything out of me. I started seeing an acupuncturist. Still nothing. Even though I knew I was not depressed, I knew I was stressed. My father had been murdered and now I was afraid that I was going to leave my girls motherless. So, I even saw a massage therapist. Nothing. I knew that WLS was my last hope, but my insurance would not cover it. I begged and finally came to the realization that my insurance would rather see me die than to pay for me to live. I put myself on a two (2) protein shake (low carb) and one (1) salad with protein a day. I did that for almost a year and could lose nothing from that diet. Finally, a friend of mine (upon talking about why I did not have WLS surgery) suggested that I look into having the surgery outside the United States. That thought had never crossed mine or my family’s minds.

I immediately went to work looking into the various types of WLS. Once I had researched and researched and researched some more and decided that the Duodenal Switch (DS) was my best course of action, I started working on researching doctors that did the Duodenal Switch (DS). My same friend suggested Dr. Aceves with Mexicali Bariatric Center in Mexicali, Mexico. She had a sleeve done in the United States, but had heard wonderful things about this doctor and clinic through the grapevine. My train of thought was if I was going to be a self-pay, I would really rather have the surgery in the United States. I checked with all the doctors that I could find on the Internet that was known to have done the DS surgery, but either no one would reply to my e-mail request for self-pay cost and information; or the ones that did reply, I would find out later in my research was not the doctor for me and really should not be for anybody else for that matter. Once, the United States was out of the picture due to a lack of response, finding out I would never be able to afford it states side, or the doctors and/or clinics had less than stellar reviews; I turned my sights to Tijuana, Mexico.

I had heard fairly good reviews of a clinic in Tijuana who stated that they did DS surgeries, but I later found out through relentless questioning and (I will say) an honest clinic contact that the doctor had only done a couple of the DS surgeries and would not guarantee that particular surgery until he was performing the surgery on me. I was dead set on the type of WLS surgery I wanted and there was no way I was going to awake from surgery not knowing what surgery had actually been completed. The second reason for not pursuing Tijuana and this particular clinic was lack of experience. Granted, I know everyone must start somewhere, but it would not be with me.

I decided I had to go back and do even more research. I started reading such good reviews about Dr. Aniceto Baltasar in Spain, but knew there was no way I could afford to have the surgery and go that far away. So, more researched yielded information that Dr. Gilberto Ungson had studied bariatrics under Dr. Baltasar. Reviews of Dr. Ungson was stellar as well. Nothing but glowing reviews. Upon researching where Dr. Ungson was located in Mexico, I was saddened to find that his practice was further into Mexico than I felt comfortable traveling to. So, yet again, I went back to researching and found that Dr. Alberto Aceves was doing DS surgeries and had been mentored by Dr. Ungson. My friend, Carly, had been right along as Dr. Aceves was with Mexicali Bariatric Center, the doctor and clinic she had originally suggested I look into. Hence, I did exhaustive research on Dr. Aceves and found that much like his mentor Dr. Ungson, people had nothing but good to say about him and the clinic.

I made contact via e-mail as I had every other doctor I had reached out to in United States as I like a written copy of what we discuss and agree upon. I have to say, I was not the politest in my e-mail. I was sick of getting no response or a response that did not address exactly the type of surgery I was requesting information about. Nina was absolutely terrific putting up with my matter-of-factness, my incessant questions, and repeating questions to make sure I was getting the same answer each time I asked. In fact, the first time the financing I was hoping to obtain fell through, she did not ditch me when I told her. She did not see me just as a dollar sign. Instead, Nina just gave me encouragement that the right time would come around and that she was still there for me to answer any additional questions I may until such a time that my finances changed.

Between talking to others over the Internet about the great care and work that they had experienced by Dr. Baltasar, Dr. Ungson, and Dr. Aceves, I began to feel as if I knew these doctors personally. The day my financing finally came through, I wrote Nina and as usual I got a quick response even though she had to share devastating news about the death of Dr. Aceves. I felt such a loss for a man that I had never met. So many people had been affected by him for the good and now this Angel of Life to so many was gone. I still get teary-eyed when I think about him. I know this sounds crazy, but so many people spoke so highly of him and his mentor, Dr. Ungson, that I cried. Nina got back with me within a couple of days to let me know that Dr. Ungson, mentor and best-friend of Dr. Aceves, was going to help with the surgeries already scheduled and then take a look into helping the clinic more in the future. Ralph Waldo Emerson stated that “A man is known by the books he reads [and] by the company he keeps”. These two (2) doctors were and are differently good men. Dr. Ungson honored his friend by not only taking care of his own patients; but sacrificing more of his personal time to help his friend’s patients; past, present and future. Dr. Ungson was even willing to help at both practices so that obese patients could have a second chance at life. I was schedule for the next month.

I went alone to Mexico to have the surgery for many reasons. My youngest daughter was just devastated and afraid that I would not come home. My mother helped her face her fear by stating that if I didn’t have the surgery that I would for sure die, but maybe a more painful death if it were not in sleep. That was how bad off I was. I was so afraid that they would take one look at me and send me back home. I answered everything pre-operative, before even getting on a plane for San Diego, very truthfully as I did not want to be sent home once I got there. I was afraid that I would not pass my pre-operative tests that they give you the day before surgery either. To my surprise, they didn’t not send me back home empty handed by just looking at me. Also to my surprise, I passed all my pre-operative tests and was cleared for surgery the next day.

All the doctors and staff were just terrific throughout my stay at Almater Hospital. I can never say enough about Nina, Ernesto, Dr. Edgar Campos, Carla, Dr. Gilberto Ungson, Dr. David Beltran, Yolanda, all the nameless nurses (male and female), maintenance men and cleaning women.

Nina was my first point of contact and I remain in contact with her to this day. She was honest with me every step of the way and was not intimidated by my hardened attitude when we first began communicating.

Ernesto was waiting for me at San Diego Airport and was very helpful, friendly, and put me at ease right away. He is a very safe driver and was a great tour guide by showing and telling us interesting facts along our route to Mexicali and back to San Diego.

The hospital was very clean and was always being cleaned. The women were never mad if you walked across their clean floors and always stopped what they were doing to make sure you made it safely across the area they had just cleaned.
Dr. Edgar Campos was very helpful in talking to us about nutrition (the do’s and the don’ts) and what to expect from our bodies and how to listen to them after surgery. He was always there to check on us along with all the other doctors as the hours and days passed by.

Carla and Yolanda was always very friendly and always available to help answer any additional questions you may have about anything and everything that may cross your mind between the myriad of visits from the doctors you receive.
Dr. Gilberto Ungson, my Guardian Angel, who saved my life. Obviously a great mentor, friend, doctor. He spoke with me prior to the surgery and told me exactly what type of surgery he planned. He spoke of performing the SADI-DS. I explained to him that I had heard of that particular version of the DS, but that I had done no extensive research on that particular version and would feel better if he did the two (2) anastomosis DS I had researched. He was very polite and agreed to the surgery I had researched. He was so busy helping his patients and Dr. Aceves’ patients during this time, but he checked on me the whole time he was in Mexicali. I wish I had not been so groggy for so long after surgery as I wanted to thank him before he left, but my body just would not let me. I remember always seeing his face and his big smile when he checked on me. I know I responded to his questions, but that was about all I could do for the first couple of days. He left for his practice before I could tell me how much I appreciated what he did for me. Even though Dr. Ungson left, I never felt abandoned or alone.

Dr. David Beltran took his place and was just like everyone else at Mexicali Bariatric Center; friendly, helpful and informative. In fact, he made time to speak to me about my husband maybe coming down in the future and his current medical issues. Dr. Beltran was always listening and never made me feel as if he was in a rush to get out of my room.
The nurses were terrific. There was a little of a language barrier during the day, but they were always very friendly, polite, and patience while trying to figure out what I wanted from them. They even helped me get some of my US dollars changed into Pecos so I could take some home to my girls.

The nurses called the maintenance man early on to bring me a fan as even though they had great air conditioning, I am from Colorado and I needed cold. I froze everyone out of my room when they stopped by. LOL!! Anyways, I had every electrical port filled with my cell phone, heating pads, tablets, etc. They had to go and get me a heavy duty extension cord. There was never any rolled eyes from the maintenance man for making him cater to me and my electrical needs.

So, here I am almost a year later, scheduling an appointment for my husband. My husband was so impressed by how highly I spoke of my journey and re-birth that he is ready for his journey and re-birth. My youngest daughter expressed to me that even though my husband is going alone as I did, she does not have the fear of him not returning as she did with me as she now knows that her daddy is the best hands possible and that he will come back a healthier man than when he left.

From my family to the Mexicali Bariatric Center family, thank you so very much.

Wonderful experience with a wonderful surgeon. Dr Ungson converted my sleeve to a gastric bypass 1 month ago and I couldn't be happier. Surprisingly my recovery was much easier than my first surgery, I swear this doctor has magic hands! I highly recommend him, I have had no issues and have already lost 37 lbs! I stayed one week in Mexicali and across the board I am extremely satisfied with the surgeon the immaculate hospital and each and everyone of the individuals that cared for me: Carla, dear Yolanda, sweet Sergio, Nina, Ernesto, my nurses Lydia and Mario, doctors Campos, Beltran and of course Dr Ungson! Effective, safe, friendly experience what more could I ask for???

About 2 years ago I was looking into have surgery in Mexico, family members concerned about my safety offered to pay the difference for me to have surgery here in the states. Against my better judgement I changed my plan and had surgery locally. BIG MISTAKE! A year and change after here I was frustrated , feeling defeated and a total failure. I decide to contac the Mexico Center once again and see how they could help me. Fast forward today! I have a new sleeve done by Dr Ungson in Mexicali, Mexico, a new sleeve that actually works! I am back to losing weight and have recovered my confidence in the future. The day before surgery when I saw the sleeve I had on the x ray and the dr explained what I had and what he would do, I literally had tears rolling down my face. I felt both happy and angry. Why? why did they do this to me? How could they? so many months of blaming myself! I paid so much for my sleeve too, I did not choose the lowest priced place.
Dr Ungson and all the staff and doctors at Mexicali Bariatric Center gave me hope once again! I cannot thank them enough for bringing me back emotionally and physically. I recommend this fine group of professional they are experienced, caring , ethical and supportive. Anyone considering surgery in Mexico and the US look into Dr Ungson and his team in Mexicali, you will not be disappointed.

I had my RNY done on 1/17/15, I was so fearful with all the things I had heard about surgery in Mexico. I am a RN and have been in the field for over 26 years, so one can imagine the things I have seen and heard over the years. I found Dr. Ungson of MBC through my searches for safe surgery alternatives when I was rejected for the surgery by my insurance company due to a previous failed lap band surgery. The testimonials along with personal conversations with patients convinced me I had chosen the right place. I am here to let all know that you can find safe and affordable surgery in Mexico. I was very impressed with professionalism of the staff right from the beginning. I was given pre-op lab work and test. I as admitted the morning of the 17th and taken to surgery shortly after. I awakened with very little pain and was cared for impressively by the OR staff. The days following my surgery was amazing, very little pain, but was taken care of promptly by the nursing staff, my needs were met timely. My diet was progressed slowly and follow up scans to ensure all had gone well with my RNY ( Myself and my husband were able to visualize the scan as it was being done) explanations of the scan were done on the spot with appropriate explanations given. The 5th day it was time to go home. I felt confident that Dr. Ungson had done a great job. I was visited daily by the Drs. , someone was always reachable and this was impressive. From the driver to the hospital staff and care given by MBC, the coordinator Nina is awesome. The hospital Almater in Mexicali was very impressive, clean, professional and provided awesome care. Dr. Ungson, Dr. Beltran, Dr. Campos and the rest of the team, provided me with some of the best care I have had and practiced alongside. If you have run out of options and need safe affordable surgery, Dr. Ungson and his team will provide you with the care you need. Thank you Mexicali Bariatric Center for helping me to envision the ability of a new me.