Four Principal Features of the LAP-BAND® System

Four principal features of the LAP-BAND® overcome the dilemmas that are present with procedures such as gastric bypass and other methods of stomach stapling. These are outlined below.

1. The LAP-BAND® Induces Satiety

The LAP-BAND® works primarily by providing a feeling of satiety, a feeling that you are not hungry. Even if you have not been eating for a prolonged period you do not feel hungry. You will wake up in the morning not feeling hungry. Food is no longer as central to your life as it once was. When you do eat, you will get a sense of fullness after a small amount of food and so will not feel the need or wish to eat much at each meal. You will not feel as hungry between meals. The net result is that you will be happy to eat just three or less small meals per day with no eating between meals.

2. The LAP-BAND® is Adjustable

This is perhaps the most attractive aspect of the LAP-BAND®. The sense of satiety is induced by the band pressing onto the surface of the stomach. By adding or removing fluid from the band we can increase or decrease this sense of satiety. At operation we place the band without any additional fluid. The tightness of the band and therefore the level of satiety is achieved by injecting some fluid through the skin into the access port tucked away under the fat of the abdominal wall.

This adjustability gives us control. Months or years after the procedure we are still able to modify the degree of satiety and restriction so that we can gently find the level that enables us to achieve the weight loss we want without creating too many unpleasant symptoms.

3. The LAP-BAND® is Truly Minimally Invasive

LAP-BAND® placement is a much less invasive procedure than all other forms of gastric weight-loss surgery. The band can almost always be placed laparoscopically (keyhole surgery) by passing some tubes through the skin and doing the operation through those tubes. This avoids any large incision, it avoid a lot of the handling of the gut inside and it avoids much of the pain that goes with an open operation. It enables you to get back to your normal activities more rapidly than would occur with other procedures. Furthermore, there is very little trauma to the tissues inside the tummy when placing the band. There is none of the cutting of organs and stapling things together that is needed for the other surgical procedures for weight loss.

4. The LAP-BAND® is Reversible

We have no intention of reversing the procedure. If we did reverse it and took no other steps, your weight would rise. However, there are situations where you may wish to have it reversed and it is nice to know that this can be achieved relatively easily. If the band is placed laparoscopically it can be removed laparoscopically and, as nothing permanent has been done to the stomach, it will return to its normal shape.

If, therefore, in 20 years time a new magical cure for obesity is invented that is much simpler, then the band could be removed and the new treatment applied.