Lap Band Guarantee?

Chicagoboy · February 16, 2005

Is there such a thing?

What if the LB needs to be removed for some reason do Doctors charge another 10k to remove it. Is the process coming out the same as going in?

Not planning on this ever being an issue but wanted to ask anyway.

GeezerSue · February 16, 2005

Probably not...except in some countries, they doctor might waive HIS fees to remove it.

If it's any consolation, my husband's stent--put in after his heart attack--has no guarantees either.

donali · February 16, 2005

My removal cost $5500. Not sure what the breakdown on that is, as far as hospital/dr/etc.

Removal should be at least a little cheaper since you're not paying for the cost of the band, which is $2000+ I believe.

My installation surgery took 30-45 minutes.

My removal surgery took 5 hours.

So certainly was no deal for the doctor.

As far as the process for removal being the "same" as for installation, it would really depend on why it is being removed, and what is found in the process. They may have to do the removal "open."

In my case it was removed laproscopically, but I did get a couple of new incisions. I believe some sort of repair was done to my stomach (removal due to erosion), but I am not clear what exactly was done in that regard. They also removed a lot of adhesions.

They did a lot of testing with dye to make sure that the stomach wasn't leaking after removal. Makes the first bathroom trip interesting, since the dye is blue.