Kelvin Higa Bariatric Surgeon M.D.,F.A.C.S. F.A.S.M.B.S.

I have been very comfortable with Dr. Higa and confident in his ability. He is very skilled and experienced in performing the Lap RNY. In the beginning, I had a hard time getting return phone calls (or even getting a chance to speak to someone live)from his staff which in turn ended up delaying my surgery but I have found that recently they have been making a serious effort to improve in this area.

My father is a well known doctor and surgeon in Las Vegas but does not perform the gastric bypass. I researched several surgeons for my proedure and decided my Dad would be the best judge. I already knw in my heart that Dr. Higa was right for me. Dad told me Dr. Higa was the right man. He was a reader and was up to date on the proedures and he felt 100% confident in Dr. Higa. I liked Dr. Higa and his staff the frist time I met him to 1 post Op appoinment. He knew who I was and my name, I wasnt just another numbered person. He came to the hospital several times to check on me and the others that had it done that day. He talks to you about prior care and after car. He also gives you specific instructions for each week. I always came with a list a questins which he took the time to answer. He did address the risks and possible complications although in his practic he has had very little of either. He prepared me physically with the surgery to lose weight but he also prepared me mentally by telling me what feelings I may have after surgery. Dr. Higa was sooo fantastic! It took me 2 months to get my 1st appoinment with him but he was sooo worth the wait. He is the right man, I trustd him and I believe in him.

I first saw Dr. Higa at the information meeting. I thought he had a wonderful sense of humor, and I like that. It makes me feel more comfortable, and makes him more approchable. When I had my pre-op appointment, his sense of humor was confirmed and my husband felt at ease with him also. He didn't rush us and he wanted to be sure I was ready. I was not happy with the office staff in the begining, but once I got through them, Dr. Higa made it all worth it. He was very caring while I was in the hospital, and came to vist me several times. I am very happy that I stuck it out to have the best.

DR. HIGA IS WONDERFUL. HE PUT ME AT EASE. HE MADE ME FEEL IMPORTANT AND HIS STAFF WAS WONDERFUL. I DROVE FROM LOS ANGELES TO HAVE HIM HELP ME. HE MADE THE PROCESS SIMPLE AND AS EASY AS POSSIBLE. THE NUTRITIONIST, THE PSCYH EVAL WAS ALL EASY TO MAKE APPTS. AND EVERYONE WAS ON THE "SAME PAGE". THIS MADE THINGS SO MUCH EASIER. I HAD A GREAT EXPERIENCE WITH DR. HIGA.

So Far I am completely happy with Dr, Higa and his staff. I feel the real relationship starts after the surgery, and I am only in my 2nd week post op, so I will have to up date this later, after a few more post-op visits. I promise that I will.

I have only met Dr Higa once, at my initial consultation. He put me at ease right away. My wife and I both liked him. He has a fine reputation for his skill as well as the quality of his follow up care. My family doctor hasn't met him either, but has observed the care with which he watched his patients after surgery. Office staff at Valley Surgical seems spread pretty thin, but always have been courteous and helpful. So far I am comfortable with my choice of surgeon, time will tell if that impression lasts.

7/28/02 After surgery I still have great confidence in Dr Higa. He personally came to the waiting room after my surgery to let my wife know that it went well. While his visits to my room the next few days were brief, he came 2-3 times a day and never left before I was through talking or asking questions. I will see him again Wednesday.

11/13/02 Dr Higa still gets high marks in my book. He is following me closely with my family doctor. From what I have observed, his patients seem to recover with less discomfort and complications than patients of many other surgeons. He and his associates seem to have this procedure really nailed down. When I was sick at the end of August, he was on vacation and sadly the others in that office were not too helpful, to the surprise of my doctor and me. Our faith was restored when his nurse-practitioner(right-hand woman) Alice called and showed great concern and Dr Higa himself called the local dr and my wife to check on my progress.

Dr. Higa was very caring and I felt that he cared. As I was wheeled into surgery and was very aware of all the lights, instruments, I could of used a some words of support from someone, anyone in there, didn't get any, but was out of it soon enough. I don't remeber seeing Dr. Higa right after surgery but he did come by first thing next morning for about 60 seconds, better than nothing. He came back again later that afternoon for a little longer and was really concerned for me. The office staff is very busy, I agree with others that they are spread to thin, but have always returned my calls, maybe not as soon as I would like. I had complications and had called the office numerous times about my nausea and had asked to talk to Dr. or his nurse Alice and only got one of the assistants, finally went back to Fresno, sick as a dog to see him first and then to go get a scope to see what was wrong, I was in tears with Alice and the Dr. peeked in for just a minute, considering I was having such sickness I would of liked to see him spend a little more time with me, and when I went back after my scope he never did come in to talk to me to reassure me that they found the problem and that the medicine would help, it still took two weeks for it to work and was on my own for that time, though Alice had people calling and checking on me, which I really needed. Though I do feel very alone and didnt get much aftercare information or not enough, I didnt know what I was to do there for a while. I rate Dr. Higa as a surgeon a 10, I had no surgery complications and was pretty painless. I rate his bedside manner WHEN he did talk to you as a 10 also, I realize he is very busy, just felt I needed a little more attention, but if it wasnt for this man I wouldn't be losing weight and for that I will forever be grateful. He is the one of the best in his field. I am going back for a post op check up on 8-7-02, hopefully I will get to see him this time. The office is very good about getting my prescriptions called or faxed in for me and fitting me in when I needed to come in.

8/7/02 I went to see Dr. Higa for a follow up and I actually got to see him and he was very pleased with my progress and very nice and answered a lot of my questions, I like him even more now and like I said he is my hero for helping me lose weight. I see him again in Nov, will keep updating.

When I first me Dr Higa, I felt uncomfortable because he is a smaller man, and my first thought was "what would he know about being fat?" and with having a lifetime of experience in dealing with fat prejudice doctors, I was afraid Dr Higa was looking at me the same way they did. All of those feeling were soon put to rest. First I met Dr Higa's right hand woman, Alice. Alice is wonderful, very knowledgeable and very straight forward. She spent almost an hour with me talking about what I wanted to gain from this, my reasons for doing it, my fears, my expectations and finally the pros and cons of the surgery. My meeting with Dr Higa was brief, but I liked him immediately. I felt 100% comfortable trusting him with my life. I would recommend Dr Higa and his entire staff to anyone...in fact, I wouldn't have wanted anyone else to perform my surgery.

I met Dr.Higa on 7/10/02 for the first time. He was very warm and friendly. He answered all my questions and even threw some humor in the mix, which is always good for me. My husband with me and I feel that he was noticeably more comfortable with the procedure after he met Dr. Higa. I liked that he gave me my perscriptions ahead of time to have ready, and that he chit-chatted with me in the office while I was getting all my pre-registration stuff from Blanca, the scheduler. The whole staff there is very friendly and seem to really care about you. They were like a personal cheerleading section! I have my surgery tomorrow and I am confident I have the best doctors in the country. He said that there is a lot of follow up after the surgery of which I will definitely take advantage.

Dr. Higa is a very caring and competent surgeon with a wonderful bedside manner. He is the best and has a very high success rate. I have been watched a little closer by Dr. Higa and his assistant nurse Alice. I have had some complications. It's strange that when I have needed them the most, they wind up calling me before I had the chance to call them. One call probably saved me from serious consequences or maybe death. I was hospitalized 2 hrs. after the phone call. Due to another complication, I had to have more surgery. What was supposed to be a simple removal of my galbladder turned out much more complicated. I always felt that Dr. Higa's care kept my attitude positive and I am still so happy I had the weight loss surgery. Here is how I would rate Dr, Higa on a 1-10 scale.
Ability as a surgeon-10,Bedside manner 10,
pre and post op care 10, Educating his patients 10, Showing concern and confidence in you 10, Going through the whole process in a timely manner 6. My process took 8 months, but I gotta tell you, Dr. Higa is well worth the wait.