Does Previous Abd. Surgery Make a Difference with Type of DS Surgery?

I am wondering if having had the classical gallbladder removal surgery (an 8", almost-midline abdominal incision) years ago is more or less likely to require me to have an open DS vs a lap.  I know it will ultimately be up to the surgeon (don't have one yet) but knowing this might help me narrow my search for a doc. 
Lisa

I had an old time open gallbladder surgery and had the open DS.  I was glad to do it, because I had multiple adhesions and old scar tissue.  The recovery was not too bad and the scar from the DS still looks better than the scar from the GB.

Lisa,

I don't think that there is any way to answer this.

It would depend on too many variables.  There will probably be a bunch of people that say different, but some people develop no adhesions and some people are super duper adhesion growers..lol

That being said, the more experienced your Dr. is in lap surgery, the more likely it is that you can be completed lap.  Even the most experienced Dr.s will tell you that if they run into problems, they MAY have to open you up.  Sometimes problems can develop that have nothing to do with a previous surgery.  Some people with no prior surgeries ended up with open surgeries.

HTH,
Michele

I had two C-Sections, and two tummy tucks (one a revision of the first) and I was able to have my DS lap.  It took him longer because of the scar tissue and limited space (about 5.5 hours), but he didn't have to revert to open.  

Best of luck.

I think most surgeons will want to do your DS open because you will have some scar tissue and adhesion's from the prior surgery. Even if you find one that will attempt to do it LAP, there's a good chance they will have to convert it to open.

I had my revision to DS open and even though it was done open, I had so much scar tissue and so many adhesions from my 1980 gastric bypass / RNY that it took 8 1/2 hours to do the revision open. And even after that long of an open surgery, Dr. Rabkin missed a scar tissue flap in my stomach and I had to have another open surgery which took another 4 1/2 hours to fix that. 

The thing is, the open incision is the least of the recovery to deal with, it's all healed up in a couple of weeks. The rest of the recovery usually takes another 4 weeks or so. Unless you're really worried about the scar, there's nothing about open surgery to fear, it's just no big deal.

Kerry

I had previous open GB surgery and had many adhesions.   My doctor performed my DS lap.   He made no guarantees that he would not have to revert to open, and my DS took 5.5 hours, but I came out just fine.  

Thanks to all for your responses!  I guess the bottom line is nothing is set in stone and it truly depends upon the surgeon and the condition of individual person. 
Lisa