LAP Band Surgery

For most overweight, obese people, losing weight can prove to be very difficult, if not impossible. Through research advancements in medical technology, a safe, less invasive form of surgery aimed to help speed up the weight loss of overweight people, LAP Band surgery became available. More than 150,000 LAP Band surgeries have been performed worldwide.

The LAP Band system is a silicone elastomer band, which is placed around the stomach through a surgery called laparoscopic banding. This process is done to help extremely obese people lose weight on a long-term basis. It is the least invasive method of reducing the stomach's capacity to hold food. It also does away with the need for abdominal stapling and gastrointestinal bypass.

This process is also known by other names such as bariatric surgery, laparoscopic surgery, obesity surgery, gastric banding, or overweight surgery. The name LAP Band was derived from the surgical method used, which is laparoscopic, and the name of the product it uses, which is a gastric band. Laparoscopy is a surgical procedure used to perform a thorough examination of the abdominal organs, wherein a viewing tube connected to a viewing monitor is inserted in a small incision in the patient's navel. Other incisions are sometimes done so that instruments needed for the procedure can be inserted. Compared to other open abdominal surgeries, laparascopy is considered less invasive.

In LAP Band surgery, the abdominal area is accessed through four to six small incisions of 1 cm each, and these incisions are easily closed using self-dissolving sutures. A patient's recovery time after the surgery is very rapid, and he/she can easily go back to their regular work a week later. The surgery is conducted under general anesthesia and usually lasts from 30 minutes to more than one hour. In the United States, the average weight loss of people who went through LAP Band surgery is approximately 36-38% of their excess weight two to three years later.

Most laparoscopic surgeons use this method to help their patients overcome serious cases of obesity. The LAP Band is a ring made of silicone, placed in the upper part of the stomach to reduce the amount of food that a person eats, and decrease the rate by which the stomach empties the food into the intestines. A person who has undergone LAP Band surgery then experiences fullness and satisfaction while eating very little food servings. This results to rapid and sustained weight loss.