The Pet Report

Most people are familiar with gastric bypass surgery for weight loss, but may not have heard about laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding or lap band surgery for weight loss. The gastric band is a device that looks similar to a shower curtain ring and has an inflatable section around the inside of the ring. The band fits around the upper portion of the stomach. The diameter of the section between the smaller top half of the stomach and the larger bottom half can be narrowed or widened by injecting into or removing saline from the inflatable section of the band. Lap band surgery advantages are many, especially when compared to other weight loss surgery.

In gastric banding, the stomach and intestine does not have to be cut or re-routed in any way. This allows the band to be removed in the future, if desired or if necessary, without doing any damage to the stomach or digestive system itself. Because there is no cutting of the stomach or intestine, banding does not create any malabsorption problems, as in other types of weight loss surgery.

Anesthesia risks are considerably decreased because the surgery is much shorter. Most lap band surgeries are an hour or less. Band surgery has far fewer complications during and after surgery.

Recovery time is also less. Some people are able to return to work within two or three days post-band surgery. Compare this to the weeks needed to recover from bypass surgery.

With an adjustable gastric band weight loss is considerably slower compared to gastric bypass weight loss speed. The slower weight loss permits the skin to adjust to the weight loss. This results in less sagging skin when all of the weight is lost.

These are just a few of the lap band surgery advantages. Gastric banding is a viable, less invasive alternative to other types of weight loss surgery.

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