As I sit here thinking about the latest trend in weight loss surgeries which is certainly the vertical sleeve gastrectomy, aka the VSG or “Sleeve”, I remember that my chosen surgery was the latest and greatest back in 2004 when I chose to have Lap Band surgery.  At the time, as well as now in 2013 Gastric Bypass is still called “the gold standard” in weight loss surgery. 

As a patient I wonder why.  I can understand why a surgeon would choose to perform a surgery that assures several months, and for some up to eighteen months, of consistent weight loss.  But soon enough even the weight loss resulting from a gastric bypass can stop when the patient fails to utilize their weight loss surgery tool as a tool, and makes absolutely none of the life style changes required for sustained long term maintenance of the loss they have achieved.  It is still the gold standard.  It requires lots of cutting, stapling and rerouting of our innards, but everything still remains inside. 

I chose Lap Band surgery in 2004 because it was a much simpler procedure, with fewer potential surgical complications and it did not require that I be cut, and stapled, and “re-plumbed”.  My doc thought the bypass would be better for me because, in his own words, at 424 pounds I must have been doing lots wrong and needed all the help I could get.  I assured him the lap band would do it because I was ready for this and never wanted to even consider a bypass as a possibility for me.  Being the great doctor that he is, he assured me that I would have the support and backup of him and his staff to attain my weight loss goals.  And so Lap Band it was. 

Here we are 8+ years later and I still KNOW that I made the right choice for me, and so does Dr. Helmuth T.  Billy.  He has kept his promise in that he and his staff are there to be both cheerleaders and support as they have been since day 1 of my journey.  Thanks Dr. B.

Now here we are in 2013 and the new kid on the block is still the Sleeve.  This procedure frightens me personally as a patient.  Why, you ask?  Because it involves actual amputation of 80+% of your stomach, not just cutting, and stapling, and rearranging, but cutting and discarding in that big red medical waste receptacle, never to be had again.  I am not sure I could ever consider “throwing away” a perfectly good body part.  What if I needed it along the way for something?  What if it was responsible for the production of hormones or enzymes or proteins or something that we don’t quite know about today?  What if its long term results were no better than the least invasive procedure available?  Why would anyone choose a sleeve? 

Perhaps, the perceived follow up care is not as “intensive” as that needed with a lap band.  Perhaps, for doctors it is  again a way to ensure the initial stages of weight loss for their patients, but then what?  What happens when a patient fails to follow the “rules of the sleeve”, and learns how to eat around it as many have and will continue to do with ALL of the weight loss surgeries out there?  Yup, you got it.  The patient is left with less than 20% of their original stomach and their weight has bounced back to their upper limits, just as happens with bypass patients if they don’t change their lifestyles, and with band patients as well if we don’t change our lifestyles.

So what’s the difference you ask?  If you can “eat around” any weight loss surgery -- just have the one the doc wants you to have.  I don’t think so.  My personal opinion is that by having weight loss surgery we are making a conscious choice to try to learn how to respect our bodies so we can get the most use out of them.  This holds true for those who have co-morbid conditions as well as those who have not yet developed any.  We are making a choice to try to resolve our other medical issues by changing our weight, or we are choosing to keep from developing medical issues down the road by changing our weight.  It is a healthy body free of co-morbidities that we are striving for.  We want to be able to go bicycle riding with our kids or grandkids, walk up a flight of stairs without huffing and puffing, fit into rides at an amusement park, throw away those blood pressure meds, those diabetic meds, those anti-depressants, those pain meds, those heart meds and just enjoy life.  Why would anyone choose to have a drastic amputation, or a re-plumbing of their innards to achieve those results when a much simpler, less invasive surgery could obtain the same results?  Got me.

I know that in different personal and medical situations there is a choice that needs to be made with major input from each of our medical practitioners, and that sometimes a particular weight loss surgery is more indicated than another.  At the same time I also know that much of the time it is at the surgeon’s discretion.  That means that WE the patients share that discretion and can ask for what WE want.  If we want Lap Band because we choose to learn and practice the lifestyle changes necessary to be a success from day one, at the same time having the least invasive surgery, then so be it.  That is what the surgeon should offer barring any medical concerns.  Same goes if we choose bypass or sleeve.

And now, besides the 8+ years of data I have accumulated on myself, there is a 15 year Australian study with the following findings:

A new study finds lap band surgery is a safe and long-term solution for treating obesity.
 
Australian researchers followed more than 3, 000 patients who underwent gastric banding as far back as 1994 when it was first introduced.
 
A significant number of people maintained an average weight loss of 57 pounds for over a decade after their procedure.  And three quarters of patients with Type 2 diabetes no longer required medication to control their blood sugar.

There were no deaths associated with the lap band surgery.

You can read the information for yourself at Weight Loss Surgery News.

If you would like more information, or if you want to determine if lap band is the right procedure for you please check with your medical professional and download a copy of my book Is Lap Band Surgery For Me?  A Step by Step Guide To Lasting Weight Loss (or order it from Amazon if you still like paper books.)

If you are looking for a medical professional experienced with lap band surgery use the surgeon locator at lapband.com.

If you want to chat with others who have had the surgery or are scheduled for surgery soon, come join our “tribe” at www.bandedliving.com.