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My problem is a little different than yours, but I definitely sympathize. I had bilateral mastectomies about two years before my RNY. I had lat flaps, muscle bands brought from the back to the front for support, unfortunately a blood clot caused the left muscle to die and now I have just an implant on that side. Because of the difference between the two, I had to have a smaller implant on the right. Now that I've lost weight (there was fat along with the flap for contouring), the difference is readily apparent. I'm at a point where I have to decide if I'm going to have a little revision done of the right/flap side to tighten it up and go with a smaller implant on the left, or if I'll put a larger implant on the right. I'm large-framed, so I can carry off the size C I have on the left without a problem, but it's still something I think about. I don't think you can go wrong with staying on the modest side of size. You want natural, not obvious. I had my implants done with an eye to getting my RNY, and am happy that I didn't go any larger. Best of luck to you.

Yeah, the thigh and butt lift will be surgery #2 for me and I don't really have a timeline for the breast revision. I've discussed it a lot with my surgeon and we have a plan, but since we can't do it at the same time as the thigh/butt lift, I am thinking it might be another year our before I can get it done. The expense, the time off work, the recovery.... have to figure out how to make it work along with everything else going on in my real lift. The good news is, in a bra, my boobs still look great. So I can live with them like this a while longer.

I originally went with over the muscle and I'm going to be getting a revision to under the muscle. I got my implants after having lost 90 pounds "on my own" back in 2010/2011. Back then I still had *some* real breast tissue. So I did gummy bear implants over the muscle with a donut lift. I then went on to re-gain and re-lose and re-gain and re-lose weight over the next 4 years to the point that in July 2014, I was back within 10 pounds of my highest weight (so 80 pounds more than when I got my implants). I decided to get sleeved and have lost 100 pounds since then. So am now 20 pounds below what I weighed when I got my implants. I now have NO real breast tissue and my implants are visible below my skin. They have also sagged a bit. So I am probably going to get a lollipop lift and move the implants under the muscle at some point in the future. But my priority right now is my spiral thigh lift and butt lift that I plan to have in August or September.

Best of luck to you! I'm now 5 days post op from having my band out and sleeve revision and I feel GREAT. I also had my gallbladder out. Not much pain past day 3 at all. So far I am definitely very happy with my decision.

I was wondering if I should look into the sleeve. Also, the dr I go to in Central IL only does banding. How would I go about looking into a different dr to do the gastric sleeve? My band has slipped twice in the past 2 years, that is why the surgery to move the band. Anyone have experience with changing doctors? Or can recommend a sleeve dr in the area?? Thanks!!!

As far as questions to ask the surgeon: how many bypass procedures has s/he done, how many this year, how many sleeve procedures, how many deaths and serious complications, what percentage need revision surgery, what percentage regain the weight, what follow up is provided after surgery

The lap band left me with 2 hernias and a ton of scar tissue. I am now having to revise to the sleeve after the doc took my band out and couldn't revise same surgery due to the amount of thick scaring that the band created. Why do you regret your sleeve?

Yes, I am going with my original surgeon that did my band. Getting a revision to the sleeve in July/August. The OP on this thread was looking for one tho. Sent from my SM-G900V using the BariatricPal App Did you have any luck finding a Dr? Sent from my SM-G900V using the BariatricPal App

I'm scheduled for a revision from sleeve to mini bypass in Mexico on march 31. As long as it goes as easy as my first surgery I will be thrilled. Just hoping this one works better in the long run.

I am wondering if anyone has the band over bypass. I am scheduled to have this revision procedure in 2 weeks and would love to hear how it has been for you. Thanks! Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Ughhh okay so today has not been my best day... I don't know WTF is wrong with me I know I'm not actually hungry... Quick backstory - Open RNY 03/2002 - revision via Endoscopic Soft Tissue Re-approximation to cinch stoma/pouch 02/09/16. I have been doing spot on fantastic the last 3 weeks and its like I lost my mind today. I'm on a soft modified diet meaning I should be introducing more solid foods as my pouch can manage it but I'm pretty scared to so I'm still eating mainly soft foods... Breakfast - 10oz chocolate Caramel Protein shake (33g protein) with FF lactose free milk Snack - 1 Hershey dark chocolate sugar free miniature Bottle of Water 16.9oz lunch - Ricotta Bake Mexican style (19g protein) Bottle of water 16.9oz Snack - Oikos triple zero banana cream Greek yogurt (15g protein) ANOTHER snack and I don't know why but I inhaled a Pure Protein Bar (20g protein) I have dinner prepped its a 1/3c portion of blended "Shepard's pie" kind of - just the beef, gravy & edamame (whirled in the blender a little) that I'll cover with cheese instead of mashed potatoes (26g protein). If I eat the dinner I'm sitting @ 1,063 calories 113g protein, 75 carbs 37 fat & 27 sugar. You'd think with all this protein I'd be stuffed - maybe I shouldn't have dinner and just drink a ton of water? Any advice?

There are many forms of surgery available today. They all have their pros and cons. I chose RNY gastric bypass surgery for two reasons. The first was that I suffered from severe acid reflux (GERD) and this was the best way to address that condition. The second was that RNY had the lowest revision rate. If I went under the knife once, I surely did not want to do it again. So when you visit with the surgeon, listen to the recommendation from the surgeon and also ask why he/she recommended that particular option. Also it is possible that the weight loss may improve your knee joints because it will remove significant weight from the joints. I know of at least once case where someone was planning knee surgery but cancelled it after they lost weight from WLS.

I had gastric sleeve, not bypass. I was a revision from a lapband (implanted in 2001, removed 2011; sleeve in 2011). My nutritionalist told me that there was strong evidence that people who take probiotics lose weight better and encouraged me to take them after my revision to sleeve. i bought them, but was so burned out on "pills" from the Vitamins that i never did. I lost 150# in 14 months and have been maintaining that loss for 3 years - so made it to a normal/goal weight without them. I recently had another kind of surgery, had a complication and then an infection. I required Iv antibiotics plus was on a total of 3 different types of oral antibiotics. I was pretty sick actually. As i was wrapping up the antibiotics course, i decided to take probiotics as a preventive measure against yeast overgrowth or other imbalances. i feel fine, I feel no different. So, my personal experience neither supports nor contradicts the benefits of probiotics. I had borerline blood sugar - always in the 90s preop. It dropped to low normal levels quite quickly. Most of my blood work was otherwise pretty good - but i have read stories on these forums of very quick improvement of health conditions, faster than you might expect if it were just due to weight loss. I had borderline high blood pressure too, but that has always been more controlled by exercise vs my weight - not sure why.

Hello wonderful people I am new to this subscribing feed or to the forum practice in general! I found this app as I have started my bariatric surgery process. I am currently waiting for insurance approval and then I will meet with the dr. at Suncoast bariatrics here in Florida to go over everything and plan my surgery date. When I first went there after year or so of research I swore that I wanted the lap band but after seeing this forum and many issues with the lap band including sleeve revisions I have started doubting myself. Is there anybody who is had good luck with the lap band or bad luck with the lap band and ended up getting the sleeve. I'm 26 years old and 300 pounds I have tried losing weight since I had my daughter eight years ago (where I gained 120 pounds) and have been unable to keep the weight off once I do lose some... I only want to have surgery once so I am very nervous and concerned and hope people have advice or information to share. Thanks so much! Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I was on soft food 10 days after my revision but all my Dr. has me shooting for is 94g of Protein daily. I found some great ideas on a website called The World According to Eggface - give it a google if you are looking for ideas

I'm having revision from sleeve to mini bypass on March 31st and my insurance would not cover it. I have bc/bs of Kansas. They said my bmi wasn't high enough, I never did the 6 month diet (first surgery in Mexico), and no co-morbidities. So I'm just going back to Mexico. Initially I wanted the bypass because they don't do the mini here in my area but after talking to two surgeons in Mexico and researching it, I feel better about the mini bypass for me personally. Good luck with your insurance.

I know I had a hard time finding information on others with my situation so I thought I would put my story out there and share as I move through the stages of weight loss then maintenance… March 4, 2002 I had my original Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass (OPEN they didn't have laparoscopic then). I just turned 27 years old. My starting weight was 268 pounds and I lost 136 pounds – a little more than half my starting weight. I hit 132 pounds February 1, 2003 – it took a mere 11 months. I didn’t have any real follow up care after my staples were removed so I just exercised a lot and tried to eat right (and totally got full of myself by the way..). Slowly between moving twice out of state, getting a divorce and coming out as a lesbian to my family and trying to figure it out for myself – some of my bad habits like grazing returned. Since I couldn’t handle much food I also turned to alcohol as my “comfort” so to speak. I really don’t know why it didn’t “click” that a chocolate martini has about 500 calories EACH with no nutritional value and 3-4 of those a night 4+ days a week did me no favors. I had also pretty much quit exercising. January 2013 I decided to get my **** together and I was 208 pounds (gasp!) so I had regained 76 pounds. I started eating better, joined the gym and even spent $5,500 on hiring a personal trainer. I was seriously invested. I lost and gained the last 15 pounds several times over 7 months. It seemed no matter how hard I worked the weight just stayed… so again I gave up and decided to just eat & do whatever I wanted too (great idea right?)… November 2015 I quit drinking – yes totally it’s just not worth it… by now I’m sitting right at 204 pounds. I had been really having issues eating. I could eat “insert any food here” one day and be fine; two days later I’d warm up the leftovers and dump like crazy so my digestion was/is totally unpredictable and I’m hungry practically all the time… so I went to google and typed in WLS revision. That’s when I found Dr. Snow. I called his office and made an appointment to find out if I had totally screwed up my original surgery. December 1, 2015 My first appointment with Dr. Snow. I provided the story as I’ve written it above. So during this exam we did a barium swallow test right there in the office. It was fairly fascinating to watch it on the monitor. What Dr. Snow determined was my pouch still looked great and wasn’t stretched but my stoma reduction didn't hold from the original surgery. He scheduled me for an Endoscopy to go in and confirm the stoma was enlarged. I weighed in at 204.0 in the office. December 18, 2015 Endoscopy day – fun times! I was put under light anesthesia & Dr. Snow went in with a camera and checked out my guts. Once I started to wake up he conformed the enlarged stoma and said he would do a Endoscopic Soft Tissue Re-approximation to reduce the size of my stoma which would keep food in my pouch longer helping me feel full longer and to prevent so much dumping since the food I was consuming was falling right out of my pouch into my intestines… his office staff was to contact me with the details. January 15, 2016 After all the holiday madness I realized the staff hadn’t reached out to me so I called the office. Dr. Snow had moved to his own practice so I was given his new contact information. I called and left a message which was returned the next day. The staff was fantastic. We talked about where I was in the process (insurance coverage) and I was told I’d get a call back once my coverage was determined. February 2, 2016 I received a call that although my insurance does covers bariatric services they would not cover a “repeat procedure”. I was then told that if self-pay was an option it would be $4,900 for everything and my insurance would cover my follow up care… I scheduled surgery February 9, 2016. Dr. Snow called me later that afternoon and went over expectations and risks. He said I should expect to lose about 60% of what I had regained so he estimated 40-45 pounds. That would put me right about 155 and I would be very happy with that. February 3, 2016 I started a clear liquid diet & went in for my pre-op testing (Blood draw & EKG). February 9, 2016 I went into the hospital @ 6:30am for outpatient surgery. Dr. Snow cinched my stoma down to 1mm (yes really 1mm according to the surgery notes in my chart) and added several pleats to the inside of my pouch to make it a bit smaller since he was already in there. I didn’t find out about making the pouch smaller until the next day when I got a follow up call from a nurse who went over the surgery notes with me. I was home by 1:30pm –the hospital was a 30 minute drive one way from my house. Oh and the hospital scale said I was 196.0. After surgery Food: Basically 3 weeks later I’m on soft/moist foods. I can usually eat between 1/3c-1/2c of food and I’m happily full but not bursting at the seams. I do try and eat on the schedule otherwise I forget to eat, like today (2/29) I forgot to eat until it was 11:30 so I’ll be playing catch up all day to get in my Protein. But knowing there’s a 1/2c serving of protein ice cream I can have tonight with 20g protein I’m not freaking out. I use MyFitnessPal to track everything I eat/drink always getting protein in first. I average about 80-85 grams of protein & roughly 700-800 calories per day. Weight: I have dropped a little over 18 pounds. Follow up care: I was Dr. Snow Feb 18th and he was happy with my progress at the time. He would like me to lose 9 pounds before our next appointment March 24th. He also approved of me finding a local bariatric nutritionist I can work with to keep me on track. Insurance coverage: The office staff is going to file a claim with my insurance for the surgery on 2/9. I’m fully expecting a denial letter but that will give me a starting point to appeal and fight them on it. This wasn’t a repeat procedure it was a repair and as such should be covered so time will tell. My total out of pocket thus far including co-pays for office visits and the endoscopy is $5,161.72… …So there it is in a nutshell. I’m attaching a scan of the brochure/pamphlet pictures that explain the revision procedure for the benefit of others wondering what can be done. I’m an open book so please feel free to ask anything that comes to mind

I went with Dr Uchal at St Vincents because he was recommended to me when I was having problems with my lapband. He actually removed my lapband 2 years ago. And I LOVE him. He performs a lot of revisions and difficult cases. I truly feel very comfortable with him. So it was only natural to chose him for my VSG surgery. The staff at St vincents Weightloss was very helpful. My surgery coordinator set up all my appointments, and everything ran very smoothly. In fact, my paperwork was submitted to insurance the day after my last nutritional class. They are really in the ball. I recommend going to a couple of seminars and see who you are comfortable with. I'm confident all the surgeons in these practices are great! Good Luck!!!

Hi. I am new to the site and was wondering if anyone has had the Lap Band over Bypass revision surgery. If so, how as it been? I am scheduled to have this procedure done in 2 weeks.

I had band problems and mine had to come out my insurance required 6 months of appts and counseling was well worth wait my revision was done November 16 2015. Down 50lbs. It's frustrating to wait but well worth it in the end.

I'm a lapband revision. BCBS Fed approved my lapband in 2/2011, port replacement in 3/2013, and lapband removal 11/2013. I just got approved to have the sleeve (surgery scheduled for March 14!!). However, I did have to go through the 3 month supervised diet, psych eval, and all pre-op tests again. I just got my surgery date!! March 14. . Any news, NewLife? Sent from my VS980 4G using the BariatricPal App

I'm a lapband revision. BCBS Fed approved my lapband in 2/2011, port replacement in 3/2013, and lapband removal 11/2013. I just got approved to have the sleeve (surgery scheduled for March 14!!). However, I did have to go through the 3 month supervised diet, psych eval, and all pre-op tests again.

Great news. I do not have to wait 3 months. Final appointment 3/22 hopefully revision in April Sent from my SM-G900P using the BariatricPal App

@@Elode Yay! Congrats on surgery! Ok, so I swear this is not me trying to be rude, but are you sure on the 750? I was a 38DDD before surgery, I had a lot of breast tissue removed during my procedure because it was full of lumpy bits (not bad lumpy bits just annoying lumpy bits) and I got either 375 or 400ccs and my boobs are giant. You mentioned you have a small waist, which I also have, and I gotta say in hindsight I would have gone with smaller implants. Just the other day I saw a picture of me where if you see the full body image I look fabulous (ok so not very modest) but when you just see the top of me I look very thick and almost fat because my boobs are so out of proportion to my body. I ended being a 32DDD, which is virtually impossible to actually get in any size and cup-wise I fit into the 36DDD at Victoria Secret, although the band doesn't fit. I am seriously considering a revision where I drop down to a 300 purely because while I have always had big boobies, fake big boobies are a totally different thing than real big boobies. They look fantastic, I don't ever have to wear bras if I don't want to, but it really limits me in terms of some cute clothing, such as jackets, because my shoulders and waist are small and then my giant honkers are well, giant. So...while size is a very personal thing, 750 seems enormous, just from my personal experience, so no judgement at all. Also, something to consider is that you already have bigger breasts, so you need to factor that size in as well. I made the mistake of imagining what I would like like with all those girls that had no boobs and got implants, however I am way bigger than them now with the same implant size just because I started out with more. I am sure you will look fabulous, but that is my current size-related issue, so I thought I'd share.

Hi.... Find out how long the process is through your insurance. If it's too long of a wait/process then check out "Beliteweight." I went through them to finance my surgeries. First I had lap band by Dr. Rodriguez in TIJUANA, Mexico in 2013 and now I am having revision surgery to the sleeve. Dr. R is the best!! I can let you know how my sleeve surgery goes if you want. It is scheduled 3/24.