Lap band surgery is an ever-increasingly popular form of weight loss surgery. It involves placing a band around the stomach to create a small pouch. This new, smaller stomach get full faster, so you eat less.
The lap band gets filled with sterile saline, which increases the feeling of restriction. Most bands can hold up to 10 cc’s of fluid, but often less than that is required. Saline is injected into the band through a port that rests against the skin below the breastbone. The port is beneath the skin, and fluid is injected through the skin with a needle.
The first fill is usually given three or four weeks after the surgery that places the band. Prior to the first fill, there is not much restriction. A first fill usually consists of one to three cc’s of fluid. After the fluid is injected, the patient will be given an ounce of water to sip to make determined it goes down well. If the patient is unable to keep the water down, that means the band is now too tight, and fluid must be drawn out of it. Often several fills and adjustments must be made in order to get the best level of restriction.
The lap band surgery is usually done laproscopically. The surgery itself takes about an hour. The patient usually spends about 24 hours in the hospital following the surgery.
The lap band has several advantages over other forms of weight loss surgery, such as a gastric bypass. It is a less invasive procedure and therefore carries fewer risks of complications and a shorter recovery time. It is also easily reversible; the band can be removed at any time. It does not cause malabsorption like a gastric bypass does; therefore lap band patients can absorb necessary nutrients from their food without a problem. It also does not cause problems like lactose intolerance and intolerance to sugar, which can occur with a gastric bypass.
There are disadvantages to the lap band, however. Lap band patients typically lose less weight and lose it more slowly than patients who have a gastric bypass. It is not as successful in eliminating co-morbidities like diabetes. Having a foreign body in the body increases the risk of infection. Some lap band patients end up having the band removed and converting to a gastric bypass because they do not succeed in losing enough weight with the band.
The lap band surgery is appropriate for people who are between 18 and 65 years of age, are more than 100 pounds overweight, and have a BMI (body mass index) of 40 or greater, or a BMI of 35 or greater with co-morbidities (such as diabetes, high blood pressure, severe asthma, or sleep apnea). The lap band surgery has not been approved for use in adolescents.
Most health insurance policies, as well as Medicare and Medicaid, will cover weight loss surgery, including the lap band surgery, for those considered good candidates for the operation. For those without insurance coverage, many bariatric surgeons offer payment plans.
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Filed under Bariatric Surgery by on Dec 16th, 2010. 
Not only has bariatric surgery turned out to be beneficial for most, it has also helped save many lives. Before considering having bariatric surgery, make sure that you bag in touch with your insurance company to assure that you are covered. It is common for health insurance to not offer coverage for such a surgery unless you pay extra to catch coverage particularly for bariatric surgery.
There are determined insurances that do not cover this surgery at all. Also remember that if your employer has provided your insurance, than there is a good chance that this surgery will not be covered. Bariatric surgery is actually elective, for which reason it is usually not covered.
There are particularly standards that need to be met in order to go under bariatric surgery. The National Institute of Health has put forward these standards. You have to be at least twenty percent over weight than your ideal body weight. The medical community considers it necessary for your weight to be so over weight that it might harm your health.
Another standard that is taken into consideration is your Body Mass Index or BMI. In order to qualify for surgery, your BMI has to be above thirty-five. If your weight comes with uncertain conditions, then that might also be considered for qualification. Some of these conditions include high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, coronary artery disease etc.
Those who qualify for bariatric surgery are then interviewed to check whether they are mentally prepared or not. It is important for your surgeon to figure out how serious you are about this surgery and taking steps for a better life. In the first month after surgery, you can put a question to to lose about thirty pounds and a hundred pounds in the first year. These are average statistics, and how slow or fast you lose weight depends on particular factors such as your starting weight.
For example, as men have a tendency to burn more calories than women, then there is a good chance that men will lose weight far quickly. Even though bariatric surgery is somewhat invasive, it takes some time to recover from it. It would take about seven to ten days to stand on your own in case you have a band. In case you had a bypass surgery then allow around two to three weeks for recovery. Even after recovery, you will still have a lifting restriction for some time.
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Filed under Bariatric Surgery by on Jul 28th, 2010.