Lap band surgery
Dealing with obesity can become a struggle that people deal with for years of their life. For some folks weight loss comes as a challenge and for others it can be achieved by the normal healthy diet and exercise routines. If you are one of the people that seemed to have tried everything and yet still can’t shed the pounds, then you may have started looking for alternative methods.
One of the more recent methods that have become popular is called Lap-band surgery. This procedure is not to be confused with the gastric bypass surgery that so many have undergone. Lap band surgery is not permanent like the gastric by-pass and can be reversed later on. In order to qualify for this surgery you have to be diagnosed with clinically severe obesity. This does not mean that you can just be unhappy with your weight and decide to run into the doctor’s office and expect to get this elective surgery. It can take some time in order to be diagnosed and this procedure is not scheduled without intense background and health checks.
In order to qualify for the surgery there are a few different criteria that have to be met. When you are considered clinically severe obese, that means that your BMI or body mass index, is at least 30- 40. This is a measurement based on your weight in kilograms divided by your height in meters squared. If you are not used to using this method just know that your weight needs to exceed what your ideal body weight should be by nearly 25%. When you are considered clinically severe obese, diets and exercise do not work for you and you have been at this weight for at least 5 years straight without any success in losing weight through all other methods. You must have tried weight loss through diet or drug therapy for more than one year and stayed the same weight. Also you can’t have any glandular diseases (such as hypothyroidism). You must be between the ages of 18-55 and have no drug or alcohol dependencies. You will have to have blood work, imagining, gastroscopy tests and several consultations before the decision can be made.
After you have been diagnosed with clinical severe obesity and are considering the surgery, you may wonder just what is involved in this process. Well the lap band surgery is used in place of the gastric by-pass surgery more often now because the recovery time is very quick in comparison. The surgery only lasts 30-60 minutes and the recovery time is usually no longer than 48 hours in the hospital. During surgery, the surgeon would go through a tiny incision in the abdomen and place a gastric band around the uppermost part of the stomach. This creates a small pouch in the upper stomach of about 15 cc’s. The band has been designed to be inflated or deflated after the operation. This will allow the patient to continually lose weight after surgery and the band can be adjusted by the doctor according to the patient’s weight loss needs. With the upper most part of the stomach being so small, the feeling of being full will last a lot longer causing a person to eat less and start losing weight.
There are no staples or cutting in the actual stomach which allows the recovery process to be much smoother and quicker. This surgery is completely reversible which can be quite comforting to know. However, there will still be a lot of lifestyle adjustments to be made. You will have to be sure to watch what you eat and how much you eat. Your stomach will be very small compared to what you’re used to. Make sure to discuss all these pros and cons with your doctor so you can understand completely what lap-band surgery entails.
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