Gastric Banding

 What is gastric banding?

Adjustable gastric banding surgery with Lap-Band is a safe and affordable medical weight loss procedure.

To perform gastric banding surgery, the AMI Surgery team places a band around the top part of your stomach. The band limits the amount of food you can eat in one sitting.

Once the gastric band is in place, your provider can make in-office adjustments to the diameter of your band. They use a simple needle puncture technique to increase or decrease the volume of food you can consume.

What does the gastric banding procedure involve?

Gastric banding is a surgical procedure that takes between 30-60 minutes to perform. Most patients go home the same day. There’s no stomach stapling and the process is fully reversible.

Recovery times following gastric banding vary, but patients can typically return to normal activities and go back to work within 4-7 days. 

AMI Surgery uses minimally invasive laparoscopic techniques so you’ll have less postoperative pain and recover more quickly than with other forms of bariatric surgery.

After your gastric banding surgery, you’ll go on a special diet. This diet enables you to lose weight safely and avoid any adverse effects on the healing process. You should start to see results in a matter of days or weeks.

Am I a good candidate for gastric banding?

Weight loss surgery is an option if you’re severely overweight, but it isn’t suitable for everyone. To qualify as a suitable candidate for gastric banding, you need to meet certain requirements.

A BMI over 40 would qualify you for gastric banding surgery. If your BMI is between 30-40 and you already have significant health issues, you might also qualify for surgery. Comorbidities include:

• Type 2 diabetes
• High blood pressure
• Heart disease
• Stroke
• Arthritis
• Sleep apnea
• Obesity hypoventilation syndrome
• High cholesterol
• Pseudotumor cerebri

Gastric banding and other forms of weight loss surgery are major procedures. You need to have made every effort to lose weight through supervised dieting, behavioral therapy, and medication before considering weight loss surgery.

Find out more about gastric banding and other forms of bariatric surgery by calling AMI Surgery or booking an appointment online today.