I had my Lap-Band done by Dr. Ortiz almost 5 years ago. I have absolutely no complaints about Dr. Ortiz or his staff.

I didn't want to fight with my insurance company, so I went to Dr. Ortiz as self pay. I had some ups and downs, but managed to lose nearly 70 pounds over a period of three years. I was looking good and my mind had trouble catching up with my body image.

I live in TN, and my first problem was finding a dr who would do my fills. I found one about 120 miles from here. And had about 5 adjustments over the next year. That's where I ran into my first set of problems. I have severe allergies and sinus problems. And I had trouble taking the pills I needed for relief. About a year and a half ago, I had a severe sinus infection. Mucous drained down and covered my opening. I could get NOTHING down. Liquid form of the antibiotics made me horribly sick. I threw up EVERYTHING that I tried to get down. No water. No nothing. A week went by, and I was so dehydrated, that I couldn't even spit. My lips were chapped. Hindsight is 20/20. Around the same time, I found out I had some other problems, and assumed that the pains I was having was related to the ovarian cysts and fibroids. Wrenching pain in my left side, sometimes bad enough to put me down. I even had to go to the ER once. I know now that my band has slipped some. Also, my port has flipped. My port kept getting closer and closer to the skin, but I figured that was because I had lost so much weight. I had a CT scan done, and I have a severe infection. About a month ago, my skin opened up over the port and started draining. I can actually see the port now. I am having the band removed tomorrow. And I had a HORRIBLE time finding somebody who would touch me. My advice is to anybody considering going to another country to have this procedure done, consider the risks. The risks are REAL. And unless you can afford to go to Mexico (I can't) to fix these complications, don't go.