Sleeve vs. Lap-Band - How did you decide?

The port and the fills. That's what really made my mind up, but all the other positives about the sleeve only confirmed it.

The idea of having a port under my skin and then having a big needle inserted into in multiple times until I got the right fill amount just wasn't something I was comfortable with. I'm sure its not as bad as it seems, I just got the heebie jeebies thinking about it.

Hi Amy,

I ate around my band, didn't loose weight, then it sliped.  I hated the way my port felt, and the look on my husband's face when he felt it made me think it grossed him out.

I used to be terrified to have to go to lunch with co-workers because of sliming and PBing. 

If you get a band and it doesn't work sometimes a revision is difficult due to scar tissue.  Plus, my doctor didn't use the same incisions, so now I have twice the scarring.

I'm sorry to sound so negative, but I wish two years ago somebody would have urged me not to get that band.

I'm only 7 weeks out, but I love my sleeve.  I'm comfortable and loosing weight.

Leslie

My BMI was just over 60.  I had the VG done on 9/25/08.  I had pursued WLS for well over a year.  I was convinced the band was for me despite my first surgeon suggesting DS, RNY and as a third option VG.  Fortunately I didn't stick with that surgeon and the second one gave me the same three options but said he'd do the band if I insisted.  He also said that I could do VG and then later do DS - i.e. it being a two stage surgery for the DS which supposedly makes it safer.

I listened to his reasoning on the band and I also did online and television research.  My first thought was that I absolutely did not want anything cut out of me or rearranged.  One of my main goals for WLS was to be healthier and to get off of the various medications I was taking.  So the "re-arranging" part and the malabsorption issue rules out DS or RNY for me.  I caved on the "cutting out" part after considering that this kind of cutting/stapling has been done for about 50 years (as for ulcer surgeries) with people living good/long lives and as part of that trade-off that eventually I could eat normal foods just in small portions for the rest of my life.

My sister-in-law died young from a port infection.  It wasn't from the band but another procedure but that certainly contributed to moving away from the band.  Then watching "Big Medicine" in one episode they have a patient who had a band and it basically got absorbed into her stomach.  So bad that they couldn't find it.  Then issues like the band moving or rubbing the stomach to the point of eroding it.  All of those things led me away from it.

The fact that my surgeon has done thousands of VG over many years and is considered one of the best in the country if not the world also was a positive factor for me - and that he never had a patient die from VG surgery.  His practice also has years of case studies/data and his patients have had comparable weight loss to RNY/DS over 2 year periods.  I think the figure averaged at 84% ewl.  If I recall correctly, DS was I think 86% and RNY 83%.  So to me that's a no-brainer over those two options.

I'm into my second week post-surgery.  I've lost 27 lbs since the day of surgery plus another 25 pre-surgery so I'm down 52lbs now.  I still have a long way to go but my stomach is already noticeably smaller and almost immediately after surgery I was already walking longer and farther than I could before surgery.  Also going up and down my stairs several times a day which I avoided religiously before surgery.

Hi Amy, welcome to the VSG board. 

I am having my VSG surgery instead of banding because I did not want to have or develop some of the problems that are cropping up with the band.  These include but aren't limited to band erosion, port slippage, band slippage, adjustment problems, maintenance problems, and the fact that it is a temporary solution. 

I want a permanent solution that I can live with, is very low maintenance, and that reduces (and sometimes eliminates) the horrible hunger issues I currently have.  In addition, my surgeon feels will work for me much better than the band.  She has done numerous bands and already has patients who wish they had gotten the sleeve instead of the band. 

You have to decide which is better for you and your lifestyle.  Any wls is just a tool and not something that will work on its own without your work.  I feel that the VSG is the best procedure for me.  It is something I can live with for the rest of my life. 

Good luck with your research. 

I am a poor and very very busy college student. I knew that I would not have time to deal with fills and unfills to get that "sweet spot" that the lap band requires. In addition, all of the studies ive seen show the sleeve to be far superior to the band in terms of weight loss.

The lap band is kinda sorta "reversable," but after reading horror stories of erosions and restrictions and closing up, I didnt want that. Just read over on the revisions board all the bad things that people go through.

Also? the sleeve just makes more sense to me. Smaller fully functioning stomach, messing with hunger chemicals , all of it works together.