I plan on having the vertical sleeve procedure but was hoping to get a little insight. I'm pretty sure I want to go to Dr. Almanza, but my husband thinks I ought to consider Dr. Ramos-Kelly since he's from Michigan (and we live in Michigan...but with either dr the surgery will be in Tijuana, Mexico). Thing is, I find it extremely peculiar and odd that I cannot find anything negative about Kelly, and this rubs me the wrong way. I mean, even the most brilliant of doctors have unhappy patients, but this guy doesn't? Odd.

I am well aware that there are some patients that weren't or aren't fans of Almanza, but there are far more that are happy with him and his work.

Could ya'll please give me some opinions of your experiences with these doctors?

Thanks.

Dr. Almanza has a much higher percentage of complications and unhappy patients than any other doctor I have come across.  I was an avid supporter of him at first, but I had a very difficult and frightening experience with him myself and watched many others go through terrible complications with him.  I was lucky, but looking back, I was not cared for in the way that I should have been and it could easily have gone badly for me.  I also know people *****commended him to friends and family members and ended up having terrible experiences on the second visit.  I cannot recommend him to anyone, not even my worst enemy, and really hope that you will take into consideration the overwhelming evidence that suggests that he is unsafe.  If you are not comfortable with Kelly either, perhaps you need to do more research on other surgeons.  There are so many wonderful options in Mexico!  I wish you all the best in whatever you decide!

I was sleeved by Dr Kelly so I may be a bit bias, but I don't see not being able to find anything negative a bad thing. But in a reality, I have seen 1 or 2 comments about Dr Kelly that weren't "glowing" but they were never anything serious like the ones I have seen about Almanza.
For example, I think there was one person who complained that he wasn't as friendly with her as others descibed in their posts.
If there was something terribly negative about a Dr, I can't imagine it would be impossible to find something on the internet about it. I searched long and hard for reviews on Dr Kelly and several others, including Almanza and I saw the lack of negativity as a positive.
My experience was great with Dr Kelly and I am very happy I went to him, but you have to do what you feel more comfortable with. Just keep researching until you know for sure what you want to do.
Good luck!

I may be biased also - but Dr Kelly was just amazing for me! No complications, doing great! THe entire experience for me - surgery, hospital, nurses and most importantly Trish and Dr Kelly were amazing.

The best gift I could give myself!

i had sleeve with dr. kelly march 4th. TJ is an experiene. dr. kelly is very good easyto talk with and did follow up (rounds) and checked on me. the hospital is older but has dr on site. nurses except one spoke very good english. i did not even have to askfor pain/nausea med they were just given. first night is the hardest which is true of any surgery. i considered both docs dr.kelly cost a little more but i felt like was cared for and i am a RN nurse. dr. kelly keeps you 2 ights in hospital and 2 nights in hotel. lucerna very nice hotel. his assistant trish is very busy but did a good job. i liked her. best wishes

I researched many different doctors for the VSG in Mexico and finally decided on Dr. Kelly.  My decision came from others expierence. I talked to a few people who had expierences with different doctors and read anything and everything about the procedures, doctors, facilities, etc.  From what I researched I felt confident on booking Dr. Kelly on May 24th!  Good luck!

Yea don't let it rub you the wrong way cos you can't find any negative reviews about him. Its a good thing!

I had surgery with Dr. Almanza.  The experience was good.  The clinic was real clean.  They check your heart and take blood before the surgery to make sure there are no problems before the surgery is performed.  There was three other ladies that had surgery that same day.  They are all happy that they had surgery and we plan on going bach to visite next summer.  I took me a year to make my decision.  I started with Dr. Almanza and then checked out many others because of all the bad stuff I heard.  Well I ended up with him and I am not disapointed at all.  All four of us are loosing weight and healing differently.  Still we all are happy with our decision.

Good luck with who ever you choose, Katy.

I had surgery performed by Dr. Almanza in December of 2010. I have absolutely no regrets. The clinic was clean and run professionally. I am in the medical field myself and very picky so when I say that I was comfortable, I really was. I have had no complications and the weight has continued to drop off. The only draw back that I have seen (and this would be with any out of country surgeon) is the inability to personally follow up. I have been able to handle that with my personal physician. The continue to monitor my lab work and everything is fine. I had a "scare" when they said some kidney and liver function levels were abnormal, but that turned out to be a false alarm as I was actually just a little dehydrated. I had the labs repeated and they were fine. I don't know why there are so many negative comments about Dr. Almanza. I also wonder why some physicians don't have any negative comments. I have been told that sometimes negative comments will mysteriously disappear from this board. I don't know. I do know that I personally would send any friend or family member to Dr. Almanza. Again, no regrets other than that I waited so long to do this. Please feel free to message me directly if you need further questions answered.

I had surgery with Dr. Almanza in January of 2010 along with my Mother. The only complication I had was a reaction to the anesthesia that just made the first day or recovery a bit uncomfortable. (Vomiting, etc.) But that comes with any surgery. My Mom was up and about 3 hours after her surgery. My Aunt, who is a surgeon, accompanied us to the clinic, and had no negative comments. She had the surgery herself 3 months later, no issues. We've referred about 5 people so far, and they've referred their friends. No one has had any issues or negative experiences. Dr. Almanza was very personable to us, and reassuring for me because I was very very VERY nervous. I would recommend him any day! But keep in mind, everyone has their own personal aesthetics as to what is acceptable for service and structure, and you have to go into this decision knowing that it will be different than what you would expect in a US hospital.
Good luck with your decision, and surgery! :]