Are you happy with theband and it's results or do you wish you would of chosen a different...

I would never recommend the band to anyone.  I had one, it made me miserable, I had it removed and revised to the sleeve.  I can tell you the difference it like night and day.

The band is not permanent and that is the only good thing I can say about it.  However, while it is on your stomach it can to a lot of damage to your stomach and your esophagus and that could be permanent.

Keep researching your options and good luck.

Mark me down for happy with my choice.

I wasn't happy with my band.  Well... that's not totally true.  I was happy with my band for about two years.  After those two years, the struggle was grueling and I couldn't handle it anymore.  Three years after my lap band, I got revised to a VSG and then a year after that, I got revised to a Duodenal Switch.

I wish I had the Duodenal Switch from the get-go.

Hi Jeanine.................Hope you'll be at the OH conference on Long Island this year.

I'm happy so far with my band.  Do lots of research and talk with the surgeon.

I was happy for 6 months, then I had a flipped port requiring a 2nd surgery. Being a self pay that sucked. I had to save up more $ to have my port repaired/replaced. My weight loss has been very inconsistent since that 2nd surgery.

Now 2 surgeries down, I have developed so much scar tissue that it occasionally tightens my band on its own and has to be unfilled since I go through periods of food getting stuck and horrific reflux.

If I were to do it again (especially as a self pay) I would have had the sleeve.

I was very happy with my band for several years.  Then I began having issues.  I followed the "Bandster rules" religiously but began gaining weight and having pain.  I'm in the process of researching revision surgery and would have to say that I wish I had done something differently.

I liked the band because I didn't like the idea of re-routing my innards - scared the hell out of me.  I figured "this is reversible" if necessary. 

I've discovered that the band is REMOVABLE but rarely reversible.  The damage done to your insides is permanent.  For the vast majority, the damage is minor - some scar tissue, adhesions.    Now I ask myself - why was I looking for a temporary solution to a permanent problem?  Was I really ever planning on having this Band out?  If not, why did I want something "reversible"?

Less invasive?  Not that either.  While I agree that cutting your intestines and your stomach is pretty invasive, so is a 6 hour surgery to remove  the Band.  So is the band eroding through your stomach lining.  Doesn't happen to all, but it happens.  Just talked to a woman that had her band removed 2 weeks ago that had that 6 hour surgery (in fairness, that also included her revision).  A friend of mine in Boston had her band removed with no revision and was on the table for 3 hours to cut away all the adhesions and scar tissue.  And that is dangerous surgery.  My new surgeon said he sometimes deflates the band completely and leaves it in because he's seen adhesions so complex that it becomes difficult to determine where to cut.  And he's one of the leading surgeons in the country at Duke University.

The Band is the most revised WLS currently being performed.  Now I know that some, maybe even many, of those revisions could be from "non-compliance" but frankly if any of us were easily "compliant", we wouldn't have surgery to start with.  I am a completely compliant Bandster and I have to get this thing out.  It makes me miserable.  Only thing I did wrong was choose the wrong WLS for ME.  You could be different.  Your experience could be significantly better or significantly worse.

Only YOU can know which is best for you.  Based on long term studies, recommendations from the 3 bariatric surgeons that I've seen as well as numerous people that I know with the band that have failed to lose or have had complications - I personally wouldn't recommend it.

I'm only 6 months out but very happy.

I was not happy with my band and only lost about 65 lbs with it which I later regained when I started having complications with my band. I wish I would have gone with the VSG from the get-go.

Best of luck to you,
Lindsey

I will be eight years out in December. Yes, I am happy with my band. Yes, I am THRILLED with my results. No, I still would not have chosen any other procedure, as I still do not have any interest in having part of my stomach removed or any of my intestines cut and rearranged. 

If I had a catastrophic band problem tomorrow and had to have my band removed permanently, I would have to think long and hard about another, different procedure. I am just not interested in them based on the changes in physiology.