Older Bandsters

mkcarpen · October 31, 2003

I would like to encourage my mother into looking into WLS. She is 62 and has some health issues. Is the cutoff date for the procedure 60? Is there anyone out there over 60 that has had the surgery?

She lives in Florida, near Ocala. Are there any good doctors in that area that perform the surgery?

Thanks,

Kathy

GeezerSue · October 31, 2003

Kathy,

I can answer only from my own experience. I was 55 when I was banded and I was worried about being too old. My surgeon chuckled and explained that he had a patient who had been banded a couple of years earlier and now, in her seventies, kept showing up at Bandster Bashes with new boyfriends!

That said, each doctor has his own rules. So, I've read here about strict pre-op diets, and BMI limits and other things my doctor didn't have. But he had done over 1400 bands when I went to him and what he did have was plenty of experience. I compare the surgeons to parents. It takes an act of congress before the first kid gets a bike or the car keys...but those same parents, a few years later, have no qualms when it comes to the third kid. They weren't WRONG about being so protective...but it was more about if the parents could handle it than if they kids could handle it. To me, it's the same with the surgeons. Those who are out of the country and have eight or ten years experience seem to me to have far fewer rules. It's more about what the surgeon can handle than what the patient can handle. (Whew! I talk too much.) But this is my way of saying that if you hear "No," from the surgeons, it wouldn't hurt to find out how many bands they have done...and to keep asking.

If you don't have luck locally, check with the "pioneers." They are in Italy, Germany, Belgium and Mexico, and were involved with the pre-FDA testing. Don't overlook the Australian and New Zealand doctors, either. They are the surgeons who performed the first surgeries and trained the others. I KNOW several of them do the band on patients your mom's age and, in most cases, the price is lower (and the travel abroad may just be tax deductible.)

Good luck...if you need any links to those doctors, I think I can find them.

Sue

GeezerSue · October 31, 2003

Oh, yeah...there's a Yahoo over-50 bandsters group, too. (But we're cuter here.)

quakergirl · November 4, 2003

My doctor here in MI has banded several women around your mom's age. In particular, I know he banded a 64 year old lady (who has lost 100 pounds to date despite being unable to exercise) and a lady near 70 (not sure how much she has lost).

On the Bandsters mailing list, there is a lady named Sissy who was banded at 66 years old. She is now 70 (I believe) and appears to be doing great.

If your mother is in relatively good health and is prepared to self-pay (I'm not sure how insurance companies would look at banding someone over 60), then I'm quite sure she can find someone to band her.

I don't see any reason why lap-bands should be off-limits to the elderly. After all, the band could prevent them from having to go through more risky, traumatic surgeries like heart surgery in the following years.