Lap Band Surgery vs Gastric Sleeve Surgery
When faced with overwhelming obesity, sometimes dieting and exercise just isn’t enough. Some people who are struggling with obesity just can’t seem to lose weight “the old fashioned way” by controlling their eating habits and hitting the gym.
Sometimes there are even underlying medical issues that make it impossible for these people to lose the weight they need to. It’s hard to lose weight for everyone, and for some people it’s even harder.
Some people turn to surgical solutions in order to lose weight. Two surgical options available to people are gastric sleeve and lap band surgeries. Below I’ll take a look at both and compare them.
Sleeve Gastrectomy
Is a surgery in which a doctor takes part of the stomach away. About 75 percent of it is physically removed during this procedure. This leaves the patient with a “sleeve” of a stomach, and one that cannot hold very much food.
This makes the patient feel full quicker and only able to eat a small portion during meals, thus leading to significant weight loss. Since so much stomach is taken out from the patients body, gastric sleeve surgery is not reversible.
It is typical for a patient to lose up to 70 percent of their excess weight after having this procedure.
Gastric Lap Band Surgery – LAGB
Is an outpatient operation which a ring is placed in the body around the top part of the tummy.
The ring is inflated to choke-off the bottom part of the stomach so food has a smaller area to fill. After surgery patients will fill full quicker than they did before because the stomach can only hold a little bit, thus leading to weight loss.
No part of the digestive system is removed. and the procedure can be reversed with minimal side effects. It is typical for a patient to lose about 48 percent of their excess weight after having this procedure.
What Are The Differences Between The Two?
While both gastric sleeve and lap band surgeries lead to significant weight loss, there are some distinct differences between them. The biggest difference is that with one procedure there is removal of part of the body completely from the body and it cannot be put back.
Lap band surgery does not require any part of the stomach to be removed. You can reverse the lap band surgery, but not the gastric sleeve. This is a very important consideration for potential patients to take into account.
gastric band surgery also is safer than gastric sleeve and usually requires a shorter hospital stay and quicker recovery. Sleeve gastrectomy is a bit harder on the body do to the actual cutting and removal of the stomach. However weight loss results are higher in those that undergo a successful gastric sleeve procedure.
At the end
Anyone living with extreme obesity may have to face the question of whether or not surgical solutions are the answer. It is something that shouldn’t be taken lightly so educate yourself on all your surgical options before deciding which one is a better option, should you choose to have surgery.
