Different Bands?

TriVon1969 · August 6, 2007

I was wondering, could anyone tell me about the different bands? Are some better than others or are they just made by different companies?

faithmd · August 6, 2007

Where are you located? And where will you have your surgery? In the US the only bands available to us are the Allergan LapBand system.

Allergan has a few bands out, all are great. Check out the FAQ and references forum here for more of a description of the bands. There is now the AP or Advanced Platform band that was released in June of this year. It is similar to the VG band with "omniform" technology whre it has 360 degrees of inflation in the inner circle of the band and the inflation ring is baffled rather than a solid balloon type inflatable area. The baffles are somewhat ridged and the thought is that that will help it stay in place better. Also, the AP band is a bit wider that the other bands. It's just improvements made over the years to the technology. Certainly the original bands work well, there are plenty of folks here who have gotten to goal and lost 100, 150 and more pounds with the original band. Your doctor will decide which band and size to use once s/he gets in there. Some docs do choose to only use the VG bands or the AP bands, but then again, the size is determined by the thickness of your stomach walls and your internal anatomy.

It's a good question to ask your doc, what bands do they use?