Single incision gastric band surgery has quickly replaced the traditional gastric bypass surgery as the primary weight loss process for morbidly obese people. This procedure is not only single incision and less invasive, but is a short procedure as well. It is fully reversible and adjustable for life. Furthermore, less time is required in recovery and eliminating other post surgical complications.
Benefits of Gastric Band Surgery:
The most important benefit of gastric band surgery is that it offers customizable weight loss for the morbidly obese people. You can easily adjust the width of the band by inserting or removing saline with the port. To read about benefits of gastric band surgery, please click here.
Another major benefit of gastric band surgery is that it promotes a slow and steady weight loss at a healthy rate. Once the gastric band surgery is done, patients will likely to lose approximately 50 to 60 percent of their initial weight, over a significant amount of time.
Unlike other gastric bypass surgery, gastric band process is reversible. Once the gastric band is removed from the patient’s stomach, the patient returns to their original form. Since gastric band surgery involves no stapling or removing of any body parts, there will be no change in patient’s anatomy. With this weight loss process, patients can continue to digest food normally and maintain their normal daily routine.
How Does It Work?
Single incision gastric band surgery basically works by using a silicone band to create a smaller pouch like structure above the stomach. This actually acts like a new and smaller stomach within the patient’s body. As a result of this, the patient, who is undergoing this procedure, eats considerably less, almost half of the amount they regularly do prior to the surgery. With gastric band surgery, patient also feels full sooner after each meal. Doctors admit that this is an effective procedure to help obese people lose excess weight slowly and consistently.
What is involved in the Gastric Band Surgery?
Basically, single incision gastric band surgery involves minimal invasion, or a keyhole surgery, to install an adjustable band manufactured with biocompatible materials around the stomach. As mentioned earlier, this actually creates a pouch like structure above the stomach and essentially narrows down the passage into the patient’s stomach. This makes the patient feel full even after a small meal while consuming 50% less calories that they patient would have before the operation.
Also, a tube is attached to the adjustable gastric band, which is connected to a port. This tube can be used to adjust the band’s tightness as the patient loses more weight day by day. This is more like an injection port and is usually installed under the skin, and the band’s tightness is adjusted by the experienced surgeon by increasing the saline level to make it tighter. Also, you can remove saline to make the band loser. As mentioned, this port is usually placed under the skin of the patient so that the surgeon can easily access it to make the adjustments to the gastric band.