In many respects, our job is to be your coach. Prior to surgery, Dr. Chang 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, he will check you for problems like infection and bleeding. And as time progresses, Dr. Chang will also check to see that your weight loss is appropriate and 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 are at the following times:

1.   initial visit
2.   pre-op visit (plus lab work)  
3.   2 weeks post-op  
4.   6 weeks post-op  
5.   3 months post-op  
6.   6 months post-op (plus lab work)  
7.   1 year post-op (plus lab work)
8.   every year thereafter (plus lab work)

Additional visits may be necessary. For example, LAP-BAND® patients may require additional visits for band fills.