What You Need To Know About Lap Bands
Being overweight has reached epidemic proportions throughout the world. It is not simply about having a few extra pounds to lug around. There are people that are morbidly obese and cannot seem to find anyway to lose that extra weight. Each extra pound that a person carries around adds more stress to fragile joints and causes the heart and lungs to have to work harder. Obesity is something that everyone must take seriously. For those that are obese, and have tried traditional diets and exercise plans, there is hope. Lap bands are providing people with a way to lose the weight safely and keep it off. It is not an easy surgery but it is one that has greatly improved over the last ten years. In the past obesity surgery was quite invasive. Today's lap band procedures have changed and no longer require such extensive measures. This article may be exactly what you need to discover whether or not lap bands are for you.
What are lap bands?
Lap bands are small pieces of silicon that were developed by medical manufacturers to create a small pocket in the stomach. They are open strips of silicon until the doctor goes into the stomach cavity. Once he or she is there they will wrap the silicon band around a portion of the stomach and tighten the lap band. This creates the smaller pouch to hold stomach contents. Lap bands have not always been used in bariatric surgery. Stomach staples were the preferred choice years ago. But lap bands offer so much more versatility for a person.
What are the procedures using lap bands?
As mentioned above the lap bands are inserted using a series of small incisions in the abdomen. The surgeon is able to look in and work through these incisions with the use of a laparoscopic camera. The lap band is inserted into the abdomen and tightened around a portion of the upper stomach. The thing that makes this procedure unique and highly sought after is that it is completely reversible and the band can be adjusted once you have hit your weight loss goal. This allows you to maintain your ideal weight without having to worry about losing further or gaining.
What are some of the possible side effects to using lap bands?
As with any surgery there are possible side effects. The side effects for weight loss surgery (lap bands or traditional gastric bypass surgeries) are often more noticeable because they go on for long periods of time. If you have the lap band procedure you may suffer from nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain, slippage of the band or infection. Twenty-five percent of all lap band patients have had to remove the band due to serious complications. Before you jump into having this procedure you should talk with your physician about all of the risks and possible complications that occur. For many people it is worth the risk because they have found that they cannot lose weight through traditional means.
How long will the lap bands remain in place?
Lap bands are a relatively new procedure. They were only approved in 1991 so it is undetermined how long a lap band will remain in place. Many of the first patients to receive the lap band surgery still have their lap bands. Others have had to have the lap band removed due to complications. It really just depends on your weight loss goals and whether or not there are complications due to illness or slippage of the band.
Related topics about lap bands
Duodenal Switch
There are some disadvantages to this form of weight loss surgery, as opposed to the Lap Band weight loss surgery, which is less invasive. A small hole is cut in the abdomen and a scope is inserted to place a gastric Lap Band into place along the upper portion of the stomach.
