benefit of lap band surgery on 16year old

The bands have the WORST statistics on all fronts of all the available procedures: weight loss maintained, reoperation rate, followup treatment needs, the whole nine yards.
Whatever you do, DO NOT inflict a band on your daughter.

Furthermore, PCOS is a metabolic problem, and those don't get solved by going on a diet, with or without a chokechain. While she is extremely young to be looking in this direction, chances are very good she will eventually require a surgery that makes real metabolic changes, and the best one for that is the duodenal switch. learn more at www.dsfacts.com .

In light of this, I would suggest that you consider a vertical sleeve gastrectomy if you are only willing to consider a restriction-only procedure at this point. The VSG is a part of the DS procedure, whi*****ludes an intestinal bypass.

Dear god no.....have you made any dietary changes yet?   Invasive surgery would be the absolute last thing for someone that young unless they are super morbidly obese.

Any WLS patient has to be willing to comply with the requirements of their surgery and I (personally) have met very few teenagers with that kind of commitment and responsibility to their diet.  It's not a magic pill.

Remember...this is SURGERY.  There is a chance of death.  Is it something you are willing to risk?

After having a Lap Band, I would not recommend it to anyone. It often requires follow-up surgeries for repair or removal.

You have already received some great advice from the other posters, but if WLS is the route your daughter goes, please look into other options such as the sleeve.

Best of luck,
Lindsey

I would not recommend the band or any other surgery unless she was at the point where the doctors are saying that she has months to live because her weight is so high.

She is young and needs to be taught how to properly eat.  most of us are in the position we are because no one showed us what a proper portion was, or gave us the tools to deal with the stress/issue that we turned to food to solve.

I would put her through some type medically supervised program, or WW, or anything... and give it quite a few tries.

I had the band and was doing well.... Until it slipped.  I had lost 80 pounds, but when the reflux hit, and the vomiting, etc.. I've been going through hell for the past 2 years and will be getting mine removed next thursday.

Please... please.... PLEASE... DO NOT RESORT TO SURGERY unless it's literally do or die.  programs, therapy, limited exercise... give her the tools and the knowledge.  Her body is still growing and changing. 

Count me in as yet one more person who has HAD the Lap-Band and has also had to have it removed.  The vertical sleeve gastrectomy (VSG) is a better surgery if you are going to choose one.  I have the VSG now and it functions way better than my Lap-Band.

I also think that since this is surgery on someone so young that you will need to go to a place that offers counseling on all the issues that come up from WLS.  As Pumpkin stated there are many things that will come from suddenly knocking out one of her coping mechanisms.

Good luck.

The band does work and has much better statistics than most would have you believe. I am not going to get into all of that now. However, at age 16 I would not have had the commitment to manage ANY weight loss surgery type. This is a life long committment, not just a year or 5. Obesity is a chronic disease and can be put into remission but never cured. I have seen too many people have wls surgery then regain all they lost plus more after a few years. Counseling with someone familiar with eating disorders would be far more advantageous. Then, to help with good choices of food a nutritionist familiar with bariatric patients might help.

If she could be helped to lose some weight it would go far to correcting her problems, then, at some point when she is more mature she choose wls, that would be the time to research all types and for her to evaluate which tool SHE could manage for life.

I wish both you and your daughter the best, Sue

" The band does work and has much better statistics than most would have you believe. I am not going to get into all of that now."

Oh but you just did. Why don't you share those stats with this mom. She is clearly asking for your thoughts on the safety and efficacy of the band, and those stats you are alluding to would be very helpful to this mother........dont you think ?

There are four weight loss surgery options.  The lap band is the worst of the four.  Here is one surgeon's opinion of the four options:

www.dssurgery.com/procedures/compare-surgical-procedures.php

If my daughter was morbidly obese I would get her a sleeve at age 16 and then if she still needed it/wanted it add the intestinal switch part of the DS once she was 18.  I would not let her get a lapband at age 16 and would STRONGLY encourage her to NEVER get one.

~Becky

My advice to anyone about the Lapband is RUN THE OTHER WAY!  After almost three years of having the band, my esophagus is severly damaged, food stays in my esophagus for hours and before I had my band removed 3 months ago, I threw up pretty much everything I ate.  I revised to the sleeve and still have problems eating, my surgeon hopes that with time it will heal.

I just hope you know that surgery does not take away the head hunger and food cravings, I still struggle every night with wanting to eat, healthy food as well as junk food, even when I'm not hungry.  Then there is the issue with transfer addictions.  Many of us become addicted to other substances when we can't eat, such as alcohol, drugs, pain killers, etc.  Therapy has helped me in a lot of ways but I have a LONG way to go.

In my opinion, the Lapband is a huge waste of time and money, and I think WLS on a teenager is a very risky proposition because of the psychological issues...it's a hard enough thing for someone "mature" to deal with, I can't even imagine how hard it would be for someone still growing and learning who they are.

Please get her counseling to make sure any WLS will be the right thing for her and that she will be ready to deal with all the problems and consequenses.

Good luck!

I am ASSUMING that if you are considering surgery for her at 16, this is a kid who is not "just" morbidly obese (BMI 40-50) but SUPER morbidly obese (BMI >50) and whose metabolic problems are NOT going to be addressed by a restrictive-only procedure.  If she is "just" MO right now, WAIT until she is old enough to be responsible for her own decisions.

HELL TO THE NO regarding the Crap-Band.  I can't imagine how, if diet-compliant adults mostly can't make it work, you could ever expect a kid to be able to adhere to the diet and exercise regimen necessary for a snowball's chance in hell of it working.

VSG - a sensible stop-gap procedure, because it is the first part of the DS, and will help her lose SOME weight, but again, as a restrictive-only procedure with little to no effect on metabolism, and reliant to a large extent on diet and exercise compliance by a teen, it is unlikely to work to get her down to a normal BMI, and is even less likely to keep her there.

The DS has been given to Prader-Willi kids who are mentally retarded and SMO, with the assistance of their parents in helping them to maintain the necessary supplement regimen and eating behaviors.  The DS is more forgiving of dietary "non-compliance" and of course it is more effective, both short and long-term.  If you think she can be educated and responsible enough to take over and maintain the DEADLY SERIOUS requirements of the DS (supplement, labs, adjust supplements, eat reasonable low carb most of the time), I would seriously consider the DS.

You can do the switch portion of the DS after the VSG, but people who get the DS in two parts like that often don't lose as much weight as they likely would have if it had been done in one surgery.  And if your daughter has PCOS, she likely has metabolic issues that NEED the switch to correct.