Tijuana’s Dr. Ariel Ortiz is a pioneer of the Lap-Band weight reduction surgery.

Among Tijuana’s world-class medical practitioners is Dr. Ariel Ortiz, one of the first surgeons to perform Lap-Band surgery, a procedure where a saline-filled silicone ring is placed around the upper part of the stomach. This creates a stomach pouch that can hold only a small amount of food, allowing the morbidly obese patient to lose significant weight.

Ortiz trained almost a decade ago under the procedure’s designer, Dr. Mitiku Belechew. Since then, he has performed more than 1,000 of the surgeries and has trained hundreds of surgeons around the world to perform this minimally invasive procedure.

The past president of the Mexican Association of Bariatric Surgery, Dr. Ortiz is director of the Obesity Control Center which is one of the busiest Lap-Band centers in North America. The center is credited with innovations such as rescuing a failed gastric bypass by placing a Lap-Band over it. Ortiz also has pioneered Lap-Banding for obese teenagers.

Ortiz also is on the medical advisory board for Fill Centers USA, a nationwide network of professionally trained aftercare providers.