Question:
what is a fill and its purpose & how often are they required

   — bchicks42 (posted on August 27, 2007)

August 27, 2007
the purpose of a fill is to tighten the band around the stomach to limit your eating and make you feel full faster eventually you should only be eating about a 1/2 cup of food at any given time. they are only required until you feel you have enough in your band to limit the eating and as long as you are losing there is no reason for another fill.
   — [Deactivated Member]

August 29, 2007
A fill is when the doctor injects saline into an surgically placed port for the purpose of filling up a surgically placed band that goes around the stomach. As the band is filled with saline, it expands and divides the stomach creating a small pouch that restricts the amount of food that can be comfortably eaten at one time and thus causing weight loss. Think about putting a belt around a pillow... when you pull the belt very tight, you end up with a top and bottom... the placement of the belt and how tightly it is pulled acts like the band... you can control the size of the "pouch" and how fast it empties by the tightness of the "belt". From what I've read on here, fills are done a couple weeks apart until an adequate (as determined by the doctor and patient) rate of weight loss begins. The number of fills a person needs varies but it is usually a low number... 3 or 4 (as opposed to 13 - 14).
   — mrsidknee