Laparoscopic gastric banding is surgery to help you lose weight.
It makes your stomach smaller. And this helps you feel full sooner and eat less. Many people feel nervous or worried before having gastric banding surgery. And they may wonder what to expect.
Here's some information that can help. First ... follow your care provider's instructions for how to get ready for the surgery, including what you can eat or drink and which medicines to take. Before the surgery, you'll get medicine to make you sleep and keep you from feeling any pain.
To do the surgery, the doctor makes several small cuts ...
called incisions ... in your belly. Then the doctor puts special tools and a camera through the incisions. During the surgery, the doctor wraps a band around the upper part of your stomach. The band forms a ring around your stomach and creates a small pouch. Attached to the ring is a thin tube leading to a port that is placed under the skin of your belly.
The port feels like a bump under your skin, but most of the time it can't be seen.
This is where the doctor adds or takes away fluid to adjust the size of the band.
The fluid helps inflate or deflate the band.
The doctor then closes the incisions and covers them with bandages.
The surgery takes about an hour. Now ... the band is not inflated during surgery. You'll need to recover from surgery ... about 4 to 6 weeks ...
before the band is adjusted for weight loss. When you wake up, you may have some belly pain, and the area around the incisions may be tender and sore. You'll get medicine to help ease the pain.
After surgery, you may go home the same day or you may stay overnight.
And when it's time to go home, you'll need someone to drive you.
Now ... having surgery can be a little stressful.
But knowing what to expect and how to prepare can help.
And remember, you can always call your care provider if you have questions or concerns.
