What is Lap Band surgery, how does this operation work, and why is it performed? Lap Band surgery is intended for patients who are obese and need to lose weight for health reasons. Obesity can cause many health risks, some of which can be dangerous or even fatal. For patients who have tried other methods that have failed, and who must reduce their food intake, this surgery can help. This operation involves a procedure that uses a gastric band used to create a pouch in the upper stomach area, and this will limit the amount of food that you can eat at any time. No stapling is needed, and the operation is performed under a general anesthesia but does not take long at all, usually around half an hour in the OR.
During the operation the surgeon will create a very small incision in your abdomen, and this incision is used to insert the gastric band. The band is put into place around your upper stomach, and this creates a pouch which acts as a new and much smaller stomach. The ability of your stomach to function, hold, and digest food is diminished. In addition a gastric band includes a balloon component, which can be inflated so that you feel full for a longer period of time. The size of the pouch created by the gastric band is usually around fifteen ccs, and the band allows for inflation and deflation as often as necessary.
The ability of the Lap Band to inflate means that this device can help you until you have achieved your final weight loss goals, no matter how long this may take. Before you can be considered for this surgery a number of tests and physical workups must be done. Inflating and deflating the band is not painful in any way, and it only takes about fifteen minutes to do in the medical suite. A saline solution is injected into a port in your skin, and this fluid will increase the balloon size. If the balloon is deflated then the port is used to extract the saline solution instead.
Lap Band surgery can be the answer for many patients who have struggled with obesity and excess weight gain. For many it is not a problem of willpower, and this surgical operation can help you lose weight even if you have tried many other methods and failed at them all. Because your stomach is a fraction of the normal size after the surgery it is impossible for you to eat as much, and this results in weight loss. For some patients this extreme surgical measure must be taken so that weight loss needed for normal fitness and health is achieved.