Physician Follow-up
At Citizens Bariatric Center, we provide personalized care. This starts with your doctor. You will see your doctor on your first visit and every visit thereafter!
In many respects, your doctor (surgeon) functions as your coach. Prior to surgery, he will talk with you about the risks and benefits of surgery. He will answer your questions and prepare you for surgery. He will examine your lifestyle and help lay-out a plan for you to succeed. In the early period after your surgery, your surgeon will check you for problems like infection and bleeding. And as time progresses, he will also check to see that your weight loss is appropriate --- he will want to make sure that you're not losing weight too quickly or too slowly. Sometimes, there are very simple measures that we can use to fix these problems. In addition, we will check you for nutritional problems. At 6 months after surgery, and then every year thereafter, we will check your blood work to ensure that your vitamin levels and blood count are normal.
The usual visits with your surgeon are at the following times:
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1. |
initial visit | |
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2. |
pre-op visit (plus lab work) | |
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3. |
2 weeks post-op | |
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4. |
6 weeks post-op | |
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5. |
3 months post-op | |
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6. |
6 months post-op (plus lab work) | |
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7. |
1 year post-op (plus lab work) | |
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8. |
every year thereafter (plus lab work) |
Additional visits may be necessary. For example, LAP-BAND® patients may require additional visits for band fills. They are left to your doctor's discretion.
You will also want to see your primary physician at set intervals (prior to surgery, at 6 months after surgery, and every year afterwards) for regular check ups. Your primary physician will continue to treat your usual medical problems, but we suspect that many of these will get better or resolve!! He or she will adjust all your medications after the first 30 days from surgery. However, we are always available to answer your questions about which medications are OK for you. Citizens Bariatric Center also has an online message board where you can post questions at any time. Click here to find out how to join the online group.
Reconstructive Plastic Surgery
Some patients consider reconstructive plastic surgery following their gastric bypass or LAP-BAND® procedures. Dr. Paul Mondolfi is a plastic and reconstructive surgeon who can answer your questions regarding this type surgery. Click here to obtain additional information and contact information for Dr. Mondolfi.