anyone had revision to rny & kept lapband in?

I was wondering if any has had a revision to rny without having the lapband removed first? My surgeon prefers that it stays in for a few reasons. He said that since I have had it in me for 2.5 years, that alot of scar tissue has probably built up around it & it would make the surgery more risky. The other reason is that he said if I should ever start gaining weight (I sure hope not) in the future, that it could be adjusted to assist me. He said he will fix it (it has slipped & was leaking) when he is doing my rny.

Not sure how I feel about it. Has anyone kept their band?
Thanks,
-Caroline

Get a new doctor. Even if the thing has to be excised out, it's better out than in. If it's eroded or caused scar tissue, it's defective.

Wow, that sounds a bit odd. Why would he leave it in? I would get a second opinoin. Beth

hi caroline,
that is so weird, i have the lapband done like4 or 5 years ago. it also slipped and the it stopped working too.So i went to another bariatric doctor and i told him what had happend. He told me the best thing i could do is the gastric sleeve, cause he could remove my lapband and do a gastric sleeve at the same time.I mentioned the RNY and he said that if i wanted that one, he could not remove my lapband, and do the bypass in the same surgery. That first he would remove it the lapband, then like in 2 months or so , he woul do the RN Y.Thats why i choose the sleeve instead of the bypass. I only wanted one surgery done.And i have never heard that they could do that.Why dont u call another bariatric doctor and just ask, if that is possible. or that if that is something they do usually.
And my surgery is tomorrow tuesday 20th.I wish u the best Caroline! and let me know what u found out .   talk to u later!                    marylane

I just had my band taken out and converted to RNY last Monday. I did have a lot of scarring around my band but with my doctor leaving it in was not an option.

I am having my band out and rny done in one surgery on Aug 3.  I agree you should get a 2nd opinion because it sounds like your doc is not experienced with removing bands with scar tissue.  My doctor said the surgery would take about an hour and a half:  30 min to remove band due to the scar tissue.  He obviously knows how to do it.  Call another doc.

Hello Everyone,

So, it is possible to have a LapBand removed and either have the sleeve or RNY surgery?
I have recently moved to Maryland from Ohio, does anyone know of any doctors in the Maryland area?

Thank you all for your help and support!
T

I want to thank everyone so much for their input. I have my last presurgical meeting with my dr. tomorrow. I will talk to him more about my concerns. I feel very confident in my surgeon though - he is the head of bariatric surgery & laproscopic surgery at Columbia University. He has been doing this for quite a while - He invented a gadget that is used during the surgery. He was great with my 1st surgery. I have a feeling that maybe in the research that he does, he's maybe seen long term benefits to keeping it?

Also, I want to send all good thoughts to Maylane for her surgery tomorrow!