What Is Lap Band Surgery?
Lap Band surgery, also known as laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding, is a weight loss procedure that involves placing an adjustable band around the upper part of the stomach to create a small pouch. This reduces the stomach's capacity, limiting the amount of food it can hold, which helps patients feel fuller with smaller portions. The band can be adjusted over time to control the amount of restriction, providing a personalized approach to weight loss.
Lap Band surgery is minimally invasive, typically performed using small incisions and a camera, leading to faster recovery times compared to traditional weight loss surgeries. It is often recommended for individuals struggling with obesity who have not had success with diet and exercise alone.
How Can Lap-Band Surgery Help Patients Lose Weight?
As with all bariatric procedures, the Lap-band works by restricting the patient’s stomach volume. Less space within the stomach means a reduction in the number of calories that we can consume at any time. That translates into weight loss, which will have a number of positive impacts on an individual’s health and wellness. As weight loss progresses, many patients are invigorated by being able to measure and observe the changes in their body, health, and level of energy. That can have a powerful cumulative effect, helping patients to take control of their health and wellness.
What is Gastric Banding?
Gastric banding, also known as LAP-BAND surgery, is a laparoscopic surgery used to aid in weight loss. The procedure entails placing a band around the upper part of your stomach to create a small pouch to hold food. The band limits the amount of food that we consume comfortably, causing you to feel full after eating smaller amounts.
What is Gastric Band Revision Surgery?
When gastric band surgery is unsuccessful or complications occur, as is the case in a small percentage of cases, removal of the band is necessary. Following removal of the band, four revision surgery options exist. These are:
- Rebanding
- Converting to gastric sleeve
- Converting to gastric bypass
- Conversion to duodenal switch
Bariatric Surgeon Dr. Moein has extensive experience in all of these procedures and recommends the best Bariatric revision surgery for each patient’s health and weight loss success. We might perform revision surgery in a single-stage. We perform band removal and a new weight loss surgery technique at the same time. Or we perform a two-stage procedure in which removal is followed by the revision option at a later time.
Which method is best for you will depend on your situation, but most surgeons recommend a single-stage procedure.
How We Put The LAP-BAND into Place?
As the name implies, we place the Lap-band into position using laparoscopic surgery, which is minimally invasive. We make a few very small incisions in the abdomen and we use a tiny camera to guide the insertion of the band. We use special surgical instruments to place the band around the stomach and then to constrict the band. The band can be adjusted through an access port that is situated just under the patient’s skin. The device is designed for long-term use but can be removed through another if needed.
What Role Does the Patient Play in Supporting the LAP-BAND Weight Loss Process?
Each individual must take control of his or her own weight loss journey. The LAP-BAND system, as with any other bariatric tool, should be considered as a means of supporting weight loss and is not a complete solution in and of itself. Patients must educate themselves on healthy choices, including nutrition and lifestyle modifications. It can take up to 45 days before the patient will be able to consume food that has not been liquefied or softened, and that is a great opportunity to learn to listen to the body’s signals regarding hunger and satiation. Steady, gradual change is the best way to achieve success after a lap band procedure.
Why Would a Patient Need Gastric Band Revision Surgery?
The most common reasons gastric band revision surgery is necessary include:
- A lack of weight loss
- Band slippage
- Intolerance to the band (Gastroesophageal reflux disease or difficulty swallowing)
- Infection
What Do We Consider as Unsuccessful Weight Loss?
Generally, we consider unsuccessful weight loss to be less than 25-30% or less of your excess weight. On the other hand, complete success generally means 50% or more of excess weight loss.
Does Insurance Cover LAP-BAND Surgery?
In most cases, if your insurance covers your original gastric band surgery, it will cover the removal of the band, as well as the revision procedure.
LAP-BAND Surgeon Dr.Moein in Los Angeles, CA
The laparoscopic adjustable gastric band (Lap-Band) is a bariatric procedure most people have heard about. The technique was the most popular weight loss surgery until around 2011. While many patients found initial success with Lap-Band technology, doctors and their patients soon realized that laparoscopic banding – which uses a prosthetic device to shrink the stomach’s capacity for food – invited quite a few complications. Problems like slippage, recurring acid reflux, and vomiting caused the Lap-Band to fall out of favor.
That being said, the Lap-Band is still prescribed for patients with special medical conditions that make them poor candidates for other bariatric procedures. For these patients, laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding can still be an effective means of attaining long-term weight loss.
Generally speaking, however, bariatric specialists tend to prescribe safer and more effective bariatric techniques, such as laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (gastric sleeve surgery). At Healthy Life Bariatrics, Doctor Babak Moein has vast experience converting the Lap-Band to the gastric sleeve. Call us in Los Angeles, California to schedule a consultation to determine if you are a candidate for the Lap-Band or the low-risk alternative, the gastric sleeve.
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