Lap Band Surgery: A More Flexible Approach to Weight Loss Surgery?

In this obesity surgery, a flexible lap band device is used to create a small pouch at the top of the stomach in order to reduce the total stomach capacity and so lead to weight loss, even in patients who have had trouble controlling their weight in the past. Use of the flexible lap band device in surgery has a high success rate among obese patients, as patients have much smaller stomach capacity after surgery and are less hungry, making weight loss easier. In this type of weight loss surgery, the flexibility of the lap band device allows the surgeon to control very carefully how large the stomach capacity can be. Because the band used is flexible, this type of obesity surgery can easily be reversed or revised until the patient has reached their weight loss goals. In this type of gastric surgery, adjustment of the band device in the stomach takes place through a non-invasive 15-minute procedure.

Many people favor this type of operation to control obesity since this type of weight loss surgery allows for simple weight loss with a smaller recovery time and possibly fewer complications than other types of obesity surgery. Insertion of the gastric band device in the stomach often takes place during a laparoscopic procedure, in which a tiny camera is used to control the operation. This means that no large incision of the stomach is necessary, reducing the chances of infection of an incision and reducing total hospital stay time to two days, which makes this type of weight loss surgery somewhat more affordable than older forms of stomach stapling surgeries.