I know quite a bit about the different bariatric surgeries - the healing, the side-effects, the challenges, the upside.  As is usual, sometimes the things with the most upside also has the biggest side effects.  And vice versa - the thing with the least side effect sometimes doesn't have the biggest bang when it comes to results.  It's all about what you can handle and what you can't/don't want to.

Yesterday I was chatting with an online friend of 20 years.  I mentioned that I'm currently clearing hurdles for my Lap-Band surgery.  She responded by telling me that this past June, she'd gotten a bypass.  That the only Lap-Band surgery anyone in her area will perform is removal of the band.  She claims it's from complications - slippage, mostly.  And that people just don't experience the same amount of weight loss with the band as they do with the sleeve or the bypass.  Well, of course not - it's not as big of a surgery.  But the Lap-Band also doesn't tend to have dumping syndrome, or the big struggle with getting enough protein every day.  But of course.... no one wants to go through a drastic life change of any sort without some good-sized results.

It was my doctor who recommended the Lap-Band.  And he's done thousands of bariatric surgeries. He still says that Lap-Band is his preferred surgery of choice for bariatric weigh loss surgery.  And for the very reasons as I've mentioned above - less issues with healing, dumping, etc,. other complications.  How's it possible that in different parts of the same country, one doctor is recommending it, and others are supposedly only taking them out?

I did look up some statistics last night, and found a study where they compared recipients of the Lap-Band vs. the bypass - all completed by the same surgeon.  And yes - the people who got the bypass had better results - especially short-term.  But it also says that Lap-Band recipients experience fewer complications - especially after the 2-year mark.

How do I know I'm listening to the right information???