Why did your sleeve or band surgery fail?

I have been researching both the Lap Band and Sleeve WLS. I am leaning towards the sleeve as I feel it will fit my lifestyle better - can everyone please post about why their band or sleeve surgeries failed. Maybe your reasons can help me make a decision between the two and then hopefully I can somehow return the favor by encouraging you with my success story.

I don't know much about the sleeve but you can eat around the band. Milkshakes and such. I don't know the slippage rate or anything, but I know the usual excess weight loss is under 50%. Good luck.

You can eat around *any* WLS type including DS.

My band failed because the surgeon placed it incorrectly, causing damage to my diaphragm. It also caused my stomach to configure into a Figure 8 and my intestines to kink and twist.

I did lose 100 pounds in a year. Mostly because I couldn't eat solid foods without throwing up, gagging for hours, literally.  Oh, and every time I ate I would have severe left shoulder pain due to the diaphragmatic damage. When I didn't eat, I would have moderate to severe left shoulder pain. But, if I dared to try to eat anything solid, I would be in agony. So, that wasn't so great, as you can imagine.


I'm not a big advocate of banding. I think it's a really bad long term option. Most people end up with revision surgeries at best... damage to esophagus, stomach,etc at worst.  I wouldn't recommend it, personally. My situation was caused by poor surgical skills, but every other banded person I have known since 2003 has had the aforementioned problems.

Good luck!

I have had by band for 6 yrs this past March. I did very well for many years, however I have also started experiencing acid reflux, regurgitation. I now have ALL the fluid out of my band and I am scheduled to have the RNY on May 7th, I cannot wait. The band was an effective tool for  a while, but it WILL fail...(not your fault) this was told to me by my wonderful new surgeon.

Wishing you the best with your revision.

This is exactly what I mean by "long term."  Every person I know who has been banded did OK or even really well for a year or two and then started developing health issues.

Good luck to you!

Its so funny I stumbled across your post. I am going through the same thing right now.  But how did you get approved to the RNY...if you dont mind me asking, is it an out of pocket expense?  And will you have the band removed first and the RNY at the same time.  any info you can provide would be greatly helpful :-)

I got to goal with a band but it came with a price, a big price to my health.  It's still something I battle today, 21 months post revision to a sleeve.

I could never suggest a band for anyone considering it just isn't safe.  People talk about how safe banding is, they are brain washed and nothing more.

The sleeve provides double the long term weight loss and it is by far, hands down, safer!

Here is something I wrote to someone else asking about band vs. sleeve:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

>>I'm curious about the long term risks and complications you mention - besides the need for a replacement once every ten years or so?<<

Esophageal spasms (I had this)
Esophageal dilation
Esophageal motility issues (I have permanent damage due to the band)
Pouch dilation
Erosion
Slips
A slip causing necrosis of the stomach
Stoma spasms (I had this)
Port pain (I had this)
Port infections
Band intolerance (I had this)
Scar tissue begins growing on top of the stomach and under the band causing additional restriction that we don't necessarily want and even with an unfilled band you can have too much restriction and an inability to eat solid food.

Mechanical problems:
Tubing disconnected from the band
Tubing disconnected from the port
Port flips
Kinked tubing
Leaks throughout the band, tubing, or port

The ONLY way to fix a mechanical problem with the band is surgical.  Studies range from 30-50% of people need another surgery in the first five years to correct something with the band.

If you need your band surgically repositioned such as after a slip or if you have your band replaced for any reason your odds for a slip are 70% in the first couple of years after re-op.

Banding provides the slowest and the lowest weight loss of all procedures.  When I got a band I knew I'd have to work harder to lose and maintain than with a more drastic procedure and I was fine with that.  I was not fine with puking, sliming, foaming, and all the assorted ways to vomit.  I was prepared for it to be hard, but not that *kind* of hard.  The kind of hard that I had no control over.

>>With the sleeve, are the results still the same? I've spent 25 years overweight and while I'm not looking for a "quick fix", I really don't want something so drastic as surgery only to have it take years and years to actually loose a noticeable amount of weight.<<

No, the results are better with a sleeve.  You'd be surprised at just how NOT drastic a sleeve is.  It takes just a few minutes longer to do than a band and recovery is about the same as a band.

>>I am currently doing portion control and healthy eating and while I might lose a pound here or there, for the most part it's not doing a bloody bit of difference (SO frustrating). I know with the lap band that your portions become miniscule compared to what someone without the surgery would eat - is the sleeve the same?<<

Good questions, btw. ;o)

With a band absolutely everything affects restriction.  Everything.  Time of day, TOM, weather, humidity, altitude, stress and various emotions, food temp, types of food, swelling for unknown reasons, everything.  Anything can affect restriction.  When I was banded I was always one extreme or another.  I could either eat an entire porterhouse or I couldn't keep my own saliva down due to obstruction for unknown reasons.

With a sleeve most people report that restriction is about the same all the time.  I can eat 2.5oz of solid protein and that's it, I'm done.  No more food.  Or, I can eat about 5oz of soft foods such as tuna salad, refriend beans, etc.  No more of "Today I have restriction, yesterday I didn't."  I have restriction 100% of the time across the board.  One thing that does make a difference for me is that if I drink something ice cold before a meal I can eat about half what I usually would.  Other than that, it's the same all the time.

>>I'm also curious if there are medical conditions brought on by excess weight that will make having this surgery impossible?<<

Not that I can think of.  For the most part if you qualify for a band (medically) you'll qualify for a sleeve.

>>I have GERD and a hiatal hernia. I also have arthritis, bursitis among others. I'm curious if the hiatal hernia would affect whether it would be possible to get the surgery (whatever one I end up deciding on) or if the surgery actually fixes or lessens the effects of these conditions.<<

If your GERD is from your hiatal hernia (likely, most of us have HHs due to excess weight) then fixing the hernia gets rid of the GERD.  If your GERD is not from a HH then the only surgery type that will be safe for you is bypass.

Most of us have HHs and especially if you carry a lot of weight in your stomach.  Most surgeons fix HHs at the time of WLS.

Sleeves have no maintenance and aftercare.

Bands have maintenance and aftercare for life.

Bands have the lowest and slowest weight loss.

Bands are not forever.

If you want to do yourself a favor I'd suggest finding 5 people that have been banded for 10 years or longer.  Not someone that your friend heard of or your doctor told you about, YOU find these people and YOU talk to them.  See how they still like their band.  I'll bet you won't find anyone banded for 10 years or longer.  It's been around for at least 18 years for US citizens (we've been going to MX for WLS since at least the 70s) so they should be around, right? ;o)  Bet you won't find any.  I've been posting on WLS boards for 3 years and the longest I've found anyone that had a band was 9 years and she was contacting me to ask about a revision to a sleeve.

Revisions are big big big business for WLS surgeons.  They are doing tons of them.

Never listen to a newbie about how much they love their surgery types.  They are in the honeymoon stage and they all love their WLS type and their surgeons.  At about 6 months they start getting more realistic and realize it isn't their surgeon that is doing the work to get the weight off, it's them.  But they still love their surgery type.

For bands at about 12 months out they are having problems but the scale is moving so they'll live with it.  At 18 months they are sick of the band problems and they are considering revisions.  At 24 months they are getting revisions.

There are some people posting here that have been banded 5-7 years and happy but not many.  They are certainly the minority.

Scan the band boards, scan the sleeve boards.  The band boards are all about not getting restriction, need another fill, getting stuck, dilated pouch, dilated esophagus, slow weight loss, etc.  Scan the sleeve boards, overall people are happy and losing well.  Sleeve people don't usually post long, they post before, during, and immediately after surgery.  Band people post for years trying to get support and information on how to overcome problems.

Just my experience.

Bottom line, some of us are metabolically challenged and need more than restriction.

I never claimed otherwise.  Matter of fact throughout OH I have written countless times that some are metabolically challenged and need malabsorption.

However, the OP was asking for info on bands and sleeves and I responded accordingly.