LAP-BAND® Surgery

You know you’re ready to lose the weight and keep it off. That’s incredible! You’ve also decided that bariatric surgery is the right solution to help you win your battle with obesity.

But now you’re wondering: which bariatric surgery is right for you? You’ve heard a lot about LAP-BAND® surgery (also called gastric banding surgery), but you have some questions. How effective is it? Is it safe? Will this surgery give you your best chance to lose weight and build the happy and healthy life that you so deeply deserve?

Because we care about you, we want to be completely honest: LAP-BAND® surgery is an outdated and ineffective weight loss surgery. It leads to less weight loss than other surgeries, and has a higher long-term risk of complications (some of which can be very serious). If you really want to lose the weight for good, then we highly recommend that you choose another weight loss surgery such as duodenal switch or sleeve gastrectomy surgery.

What Is LAP-BAND® Surgery?

The LAP-BAND® procedure is a surgical procedure that decreases the amount of food a patient has to eat in order to feel full.

The band is an inflatable device that is placed around the upper part of the patient’s stomach. The band is locked in place like a collar around the stomach and 3-4 stitches are placed on either side of the band to keep it in position, and to decrease the risk of band slippage. The collar is connected to a tube which has a port attached to it. This creates a closed system so that when saline is inserted via the port, it inflates a balloon inside the collar, creating a small stomach pouch. The saline amount will be adjusted over time based on how much the patient can eat and how much weight they are losing. The band also slows the emptying of food out of the pouch, causing the patient to feel full longer.

What Are the Risks of LAP-BAND® Surgery?

Unlike other bariatric surgeries, this surgery introduces a foreign body to your system. Because of this, complication rates for this surgery are unusually high, and the surgery is widely considered to be outdated and unsafe. One study found that, within three years of having the procedure, an astounding 88 percent of patients reported at least one severe complication, such as gastroesophageal reflux, difficulty swallowing, or stomach obstruction. Worldwide, at least 25-40% of bands will need to be removed within the first 5 years due to complications experienced only with gastric banding procedures.

One big problem with gastric banding surgery is that, even if the patient doesn’t need to have their band removed, they will likely need frequent adjustments due to problems with the band. Patients can suffer from problems such as:

• Band erosion (2-9% of patients)
• Band intolerance (at least 6.9% of patients)
• Port or band infection (1-4% of patients)
• Gastric band slippage (up to 22% of patients)
• Gastric pouch dilation (4-9% of patients)
• Band or port leak (hardware failure in 1-4% of patients)
• Port problems (up to 20% of patients)

Due to the frequency of these problems, many patients require frequent adjustments and surgical revisions. Most patients require several adjustments in the first year (estimates range from 3 to 13 per year on average), and less frequent but still common adjustments in the years afterwards. This can translate to a lot of hospital visits and surgeries.

Even more concerningly, patients who get this surgery tend to maintain much less weight loss. On average patients initially only lose 40-50% of their excess body weight. This is a much lower number than that offered by other bariatric surgeries. Weight regain is also a serious problem: one large study found that patients who kept their band for 14 years only maintained weight loss of only 15% of their unhealthy body weight on average.

To reiterate: because we care about you, we highly recommend that you consider an alternative weight loss surgery rather than proceeding with gastric banding surgery. In fact, at the BMCC we don’t even offer LAP-BAND® surgery because it’s considered to be unsafe and ineffective.

What Are the Best Alternatives to LAP-BAND® Surgery?

At the BMCC, we offer three powerful alternatives to gastric banding surgery. Each of these surgeries is safe and effective, and offers you an excellent chance to lose the weight, keep it off, and get back to the wonderful life that you deserve.

Sleeve gastrectomy surgery can help patients to lose 60-80% of their excess body weight on average.

Gastric bypass surgery can help patients to lose 65-90% of their excess body weight on average. Gastric bypass surgery can also help with type 2 diabetes: at the BMCC, over 90% of our bypass patients who suffer from type 2 diabetes experience remission.

Duodenal switch surgery is widely considered to be the gold standard of surgical weight loss. Duodenal switch patients lose 75-95% of their unhealthy body weight on average, and experience remission of type 2 diabetes in up to 98% of cases.

If you’re not sure which of these surgeries is right for you, feel free to browse our website or give our friendly office staff a call.

Many of our patients say that the decision to undergo bariatric surgery was one of the best decisions they ever made.

“We were no longer prisoners in our own bodies, we were no longer handicapped by our weight, we were living and moving and feeling better then we had felt in so many years.”—Lisa and Chris Chesrown, duodenal switch patients.

If you’re suffering, don’t wait. Schedule a consultation today.