No more lap bands in my area?

[Sharpie 3,306]

My surgeon has done thousands of lapbands.. he in fact does not do sleeve or bypass.. He does belong to a group of Bariatric surgeons and some do the other surgeries.. He advised me that it was my decision.. however, I chose the band because I did not want to lose 85% of my healthy stomach or have it re-routed.. I have had zero problems and couldn't be happier with my band..

[Bandista 7,466]

In my research I found quite a few hospitals that no longer do LB and of course I worried that might indicate other procedures might somehow be more successful, etc. So I kept digging. I honestly think it's about the followup. My aftercare with the surgeon is at weeks 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 11, 14 and as-needed along the way. We all know who makes the medical decisions these days. The insurance companies. Hate to be such a cynic, but there you go. And there are surgeons who really do enjoy working with people and seeing them through to better health, etc., but the majority prefer their patients to be under anesthesia when they deal with them. A LB surgeon does a lot more hand-holding and cheerleading than most surgeons, that's for sure.

[mrsto 2,925]

In a perfect world, I would have loved to have a surgery that didn't require so much follow up. But given the issues with the other two surgeries discussed (issues they don't seem to talk about), I'm perfectly fine having control over this tool. Once the others are done……that is it! There ain't no turning back, and that is a dynamic I could not live with. I've said this before……if for some reason my band goes south, I'd have it removed without revision.

The doctors may not like all of the band aftercare, but so many people also gain weight back with the sleeve and bypass. The sleeve can be stretched, and people gain with the bypass as well. I've seen it with a couple of people I know. One actually had the band placed over the bypass. But these are the things you don't hear the doctors discuss. And that's not to mention the issues of malabsorption with the bypass. That is some scary sh-it! Especially because you can't reverse it! No thank you……not for me.

[5.0junkie 770]

It's like B-52 said, docs see so many band patients that come in to their office in tears but then a year later want to live life the way they did before the band and go back to making poor decisions. Looking at it from the docs point of view, why would they want to bust their ass doing these surgeries to have their work destroyed by some lazy band patient or one that just wasnt mentally prepared for the work involved with the band. The band is work. We all know that. In my industry, I only want to make so many repairs before I just get frustrated and say I'm done. I'm sure docs feel that way everyday. If there is no reward for you in your work then why would you keep doing it? There are actually many benefits of the sleeve. More so than the band I believe. I still ultimately chose the band because I wanted to start with moderate severity surgery wise. I knew I could work the band and mentally handle all that it requires. I liked having the adjustability and I just liked the idea of having more control of me. Do I expect complications with the band?? Honestly yes. I will cross that path when it comes. Do I hope there are complications? Not at all. It just makes sense that docs are moving away from bands, higher reward for their work rate and higher success rate with the sleeve. Docs end up being graded by patients based on their success rates of their surgeries performed. Band patients take the control of success in their own hands and out of the docs. No one likes to be graded on something they don't have control of. Do I believe that all docs are giving the band a fair shake? Nope. I think they ultimately want to do what they feel is best for their practice and the general population not just the individual patient. I don't think it has anything to do with money making. Docs charge accordingly for their services. I believe it all has to do with lack of control and success with band patients. You have to admit, most band patients don't give the band a good name when it comes to long term control.

[hiddnstar 167]

It seems that some of the drs in my area are turning their backs on the lap band and going for the sleeve and the bypass. Now they are passing their lap band patients off to other drs. The whole thing is discouraging. It has me wondering if there will be an experienced lap band surgeon available to help me if I have problems years down the road. Have any of you noticed this trend or is it local to me?

Hi

This is a very touchy subject. I've read about different reasons the Lap Band is decreasing in popularity --- the rate of complications for one, the economy (as in insurance companies paying for inplantation but leaving patients stuck paying for removal if that becomes necessary--so patients opting for a different kind of WLS that as more predictable complications which tend to come early on rather than years down the road).

There are all kinds of articles quoting studies of Lap Band success and complications showing opposite results. One study says one thing, another study just the oposite.

ABC News has broadcast info about one study that shows an alarming rate of complications. I would like more detailed info about why, exactly did those specific people have complications.

Like many people on this site, I believe education on how the Band works and YOUR part in making it a success is key. I remember being so excited that I could get banded and lose weight that I didn't care how it worked - - just that it did! And I thought I was so very lucky that my surgeon only required that I lose 20 pounds before surgery and attend 1 support group meeting (along with the basic requirements of tests and the psychological approval). I was banded within 2 months of my first consultation.

There is a weight loss and metabolism center an hour from where I live (Im in a rural county) that has people go thru an intense educational process with written TESTS you have to pass, a diet and exercise program you must participate in for 6 months, and all kinds of classes and support available (including a cooking class and a walking class in which the surgeon also participates!). Only then will you sit down with the surgeon to discuss what you need to lose further weight. Many many people who go there find out they are actually losing a lot of weight without surgery! And there are also those who choose to add more oooooomph.

After 6 months of eating well and exercising regularly, they simply add another tool to their already successful weight loss program. They continue with the program having added some oooomph and are quite successful all around.

The surgeon's who are involved with this center rarely remove bands and don't see the rate of complications that have been reported in studies.

That being said, there are other reasons a Band may not be appropriate for someone. I'm not sure what kind of additional tests could be done to make sure a person's body can handle a Band.

For me, my body could not handle it but I didn't know that. I was very uncomfortable from the very beginning of being banded and had only a little restriction after 3 fills; I needed more Fluid in the band in order to get true restriction, but my body was too sensitive to handle any more fill. I had my Band removed. (I DID lose considerable weight during the 3 years I had it inside me!! And I continue to lose weight now that it's out. I don't regret being banded).

There is a real mix of people on this site with varying degrees of success and difficulties. My impression of those with great success is that they use the band only as the tool it was designed to be. It is only 1 part of their weight loss journey, not the whole kit and caboodle.

I have read that surgeons are shying away from Lap Bands because they have to be continually involved with Lap Band patients (with fills and un-fills and complications that tend to come later on, not in the beginning). Sleeve and GP patients tend to have complications in the beginning (IF at all) and once those are resolved they are good to go (though malnutrition issues need to be monitored, of course). Lap Band patients tend to do great in the beginning but can have slippage, erosion, and rejection by the body later on. (This is one thing people who are considering being banded need to consider when choosing the band. Is your insurance company likely to support you later on if there are complications? Like 10 years from now?)

I hope with all the continous research on obesity and what causes it in the first place, a new education of the public will commence as it did with the dangers of cigarette smoking and second hand smoke, etc. Hopefully down the road obesity will be fully understood AND avoided or the cause treated successfully in the first place. Maybe 50 years from now WLS will be uncommon because there is no need!! Wouldn't that be amazing!

That's my view at the moment. I didnt realize I'd gotten so wordy!

~hiddn.

[SeaSounders♥ 225]

I'm sorry to hear this! Thank God my Surgeon does lap bands only!! I wanted him because I did not want another surgeon to tell me I need bypass or sleeve incase I want another child in the future! My Drs office staff 3 are all his lap band patients and his wife is one of his RNs and participated in the surgery and does fills! I hope you find someone that's worth a little further drive take care!!

[Joe I 180]

Why would anyone want a surgery that requires follow up like this? "My aftercare with the surgeon is at weeks 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 11, 14 and as-needed along the way. " I work and have a life theres no way I could do this.

[Ms skinniness 3,003]

A bariatric surgeon told me that the Lap band is an old procedure and is not done very often in Southern California. The band has a high failure rate with a lot of complications where patient's stomachs are mangled from slippage.... He said the most common wls is the vertical sleeve. I have the vertical sleeve and I love it....so glad the surgeon was up front with his patients.....

[SeaSounders♥ 225]

Well my surgeon has F/ups week 1 & 4 then a monthly visit for the 1st year and every 3 months year 2 then as needed we all have lives to so I picked my surgeon for this reason and it's 1 day a month for about 30 minutes time well spent!

[2muchfun 8,927]

Why would anyone want a surgery that requires follow up like this? "My aftercare with the surgeon is at weeks 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 11, 14 and as-needed along the way. " I work and have a life theres no way I could do this.

I've been in my doctor's office once in the last year. That's quite typical so I don't think it's interfering with my life at all.

[kklittl 9]

My surgeon doesn't do lap bands any more because of the long term complications.

[2muchfun 8,927]

A bariatric surgeon told me that the Lap band is an old procedure and is not done very often in Southern California. The band has a high failure rate with a lot of complications where patient's stomachs are mangled from slippage.... He said the most common wls is the vertical sleeve. I have the vertical sleeve and I love it....so glad the surgeon was up front with his patients.....

Don't believe everything your surgeon tells you. Surgeons make so much more money from a sleeve or bypass, so profit can taint there conclusions/recommendations.

[2muchfun 8,927]

Last time I was at my surgeon's office, I stuck around and had a cup of coffee in the back, and some friendly talk with the staff....

After commenting on my journey with the band, they started to share with me how frustrated they are with many of their other patients.....initially, they come in 100% committed to loosing weight...life and death....tell their story sometimes in tears!!

Then 6-12 months later after surgery, these same people are coming in asking for un-fills so they can "Pig Out" on vacation...or one person said she wanted to be able to eat this fudge recipe she is famous for...all kinds of stories, many of them were very funny....but at the same time very sad...

....The staff wants so much to help these people, but they "Self Destruct" They want their patients to be successful, but more often than not it is the patient who gets in the way of that success....

They just don't "get-It" Why would they go through all this in the first place?? You thought they really wanted this but at the same time they want the very things that was hurting them in the first place...everyone just shook their heads and said "Some people....Unbelievable!"

Then it was said that, that is why they were moving away from the lap band more and more...it gives people to much freedom and say as to how they want to carry out their treatment plan.

I never thought about the band this way but it sure makes sense. food addiction can make people do some crazy things. With the other WLS options a patient has no choice but with the band, they can avoid fills or be completely unfilled and carry on their addicted lives forever. That would certainly skew the success/failure %.

tmf

[CowgirlJane 14,259]

I had a lapband for 10 years. I revised to a gastric sleeve 2 years ago.

It was interesting going back through my paperwork from being banded and I found the brochure from the lapband manufacturer that clearly stated it was a "temporary" device and would ilkely need to be removed in the future. In addition, my surgeon had me sign a letter saying that I understood that the lapband was temporary and had a high probababilty of needing removal. It is funny, I didn't remember signing it, but I can imagine that I had dellusions that once i lost weight life would be hunky dory and I wouldn't "need" the WLS tool anymore.

What I noticed back when I was deeply involved in the lapband online support groups (yahoo bandster group days) there was a lot of blaming the patient for problems. I think it was a misguided attempt to help people under stand the importance of "compliance". All weight loss surgeries require "compliance" at some level, right? My personal experience is that the band was just trickier to be compliant with. Different people have different experiences, but what I observed in myself and in the group of "peers" that had the lapband at the same time as I did is that the issues showed up later. To me, the biggest issue with the band was not the follow up needs (ie fills) but rather that I had a hard time eating dense Protein and raw veggies so I went from being a fairly healthy "overeater" to being the queen of slider carbs while banded. Perhaps, if I had the right education and support that would have not happened, I don't know. It doesn't really matter because I eventually wound up with terrible reflux so all Fluid had to be removed and then eventually with slippage.

BTW, my band was never filled super tight and the only reason it was "unfilled" was to try to address the reflux.

I am early days in my sleeve journey - been maintaining 150+ loss since Feb 2013. It took me 14 months to lose that weight. I don't actually KNOW yet what my 10 year journey will look like yet, but I have a good idea based on others who have gone before me.

I find this sort of "my weight loss surgery is better then yours" to be silly - we all have our reasons for our choices and I just think people should be educated as to what they are "getting into". I do know one person who has been banded more then a decade and is still at her goal weight!

First surgeon I went to to discuss revision indicated I needed gastric bypass since I wasn't likely to be a success with the sleeve. For my own (probably irrational) reasons i could not wrap my head around the gastric bypass. I went somewhere else where they discussed the sleeve with me. I had to think about it for another 6 months - all the same concerns I hear on these posts "don't want my stomach chopped".

I have an entirely different view about it now. My stomach was just too big, I like having a smaller stomach. I still have to "work it" but this makes it possible for me to live a fit and healthy weight life. I did alot of research and know well the possible longer term risks for the sleeve, but, frankly, it is not high risk. And as always, the people who continue to be "compliant" do better and have few complications.

For me, the lapband just didn't work well. I had alot of pain and discomfort and while I did lose weight, I did not have stellar success even before I had to be unfilled.

Best of luck to all of us in getting the weight off and controlling this disease of obesity.

[Mary23 17]

This is very disheartening to hear. It is difficult for me to understand why a doctor would choose such an extreme form of surgery, over something reversible. Somehow, it doesn't seem that they have the patients LONG TERM best interest at heart. Yes, certainly they will lose weight. But what happens beyond that, with 1/4 of a stomach or a rerouted plumbing system?

I don't see my doctor discontinuing lap band procedures, but he is very upfront about it being his least favorite surgery. Even still, he does dozens of them yearly. If I ever have issues with my band, or move to a place where I cannot get the necessary care, I would have it removed without a revision. As much as I agonized over which surgery to go with, now that I've lived with the band for 7 months, I would never agree to any of the other surgeries. Way to extreme for my taste, and the band is working perfectly fine.

I'm annoyed with all of these doctors chasing the almighty buck, instead of having the long term health of their patients be the #1 priority. Granted, I don't see what they see on a day to day or year to year basis. But it seems so many of them really don't like the band......my doctor included.

I understand what your saying but my band only lasted 4 years and had to be removed in emergency surgery. I have since had bypass and truly wish I had done it from the beginning