Why Consider Gastric Band Surgery?
So you’ve decided to look into bariatric surgery as a solution to your obesity problem. You may have tried diets for years and found that they haven’t worked. You may be experiencing the health complications that are associated with obesity—diabetes, heart conditions, hypertension—and are ready to make a change. However you arrived on these pages, congratulations: you’re on your way to a healthier future!
But you may also be like many other people who feel that gastric bypass surgery is too invasive a procedure, as it involves cutting or stapling your stomach.
Your choice doesn’t have to be between everything or nothing: a less-invasive procedure is available, and gastric band surgery may be the answer for you.
A gastric band is a silicone ring filled with a saline solution and connected to a small reservoir that your bariatric surgeon will place beneath your skin. Once the gastric band is inserted, it is adjustable (as the amount of saline in the ring can be changed): that way you can have it adjusted so that more food—or less food—is allowed to pass between the two sections of your stomach.
And the adjustments can be made as often as you need them—and can take place in your doctor’s surgery. Why adjust? You may be losing too much weight too quickly, so will want to allow more food in for a period of time; or you may not be losing enough and may need to have it tightened. When it is tighter, the gastric band allows you to feel full more quickly with less food intake; when loosened, you allow yourself more food before feeling full.
Gastric band surgery offers some significant advantages:
Low operative risk and risk of infection
The procedure is reversible
Shorter hospitalization than with other surgery
Less surgical trauma and pain as compared to other operations
Less invasive for both the stomach and the abdominal wall
Portions of the stomach and intestines are not bypassed
Gastric band surgery isn’t for everyone, but if you’ve been thinking of bariatric surgery and want something less invasive than gastric bypass surgery, then gastric band surgery may be just right for you. Why not ask us about it today?
