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On 2/9/16 I had a revision/repair of my RNY originally performed in March 2002. Much like janice above, my original surgery had no real follow up care but this time i do! I've got my first follow up appointment tomorrow & in down 16.6 pounds - feel free to ask my anything Sent from my 9020A using BariatricPal

I had implants pre-sleeve. The nice thing is that my boobs haven't shrunk visibly at all. In fact they look bigger now in relation to the rest of my body. The bad news is, my left implant has now become malpositioned due to the loss of real breast tissue above it and I will likely want a revision. Though I'm going to wait until I'm done losing for that. It's not really that noticeable. I notice it, but even my husband didn't notice it until I pointed it out to him. I was thin when I got my boobs. I pray they still look good when I drop these lbs. I was "thin" too when I got my boobs. I had lift with implants done at the same time as my tummy tuck after having lost 90 pounds "on my own". But then I regained 80 pounds before I was sleeved. Now, post-sleeve, I re-lost those 80 pounds, plus 7 more. My tummy tuck held up GREAT through the re-gain and loss. My only issue is that I now have this malpositioning of my left implant. I don't know if re-gaining breast tissue pushed it around a bit and then it because obvious when I lost that new breast tissue again or what. All I know is that I will probably end up getting a revision. Not in a rush though. It's really only noticeable to me. My husband doesn't care and you can't possibly notice it if I'm wearing clothes or a bra.

I know I am SUPER late to this thread!! But I just left my fiance three weeks ago. We'd been together for a little over 3 years. Matter of fact we celebrated our 3-year with a trip to Chicago in Feb.... Anyways. Long story short. He was emotionally and physically abusive on top of incredibly irresponsible. And he has a son, whom I call my own bc his bio mom basically abandoned him when my ex and her divorced. The last straw in our relationship was when he stole, yes STOLE almost half of the loan money I had taken out for my VSG revision!!!! He was NOT supportive of my revision from day 1. I told him he either supports me or he doesn't, I am doing what's best for me and my health. I got the money back - thank GOD, but I left him that day. I am still riding the ups and downs of the post-break-up roller coaster. And when I am great I'm GREAT, and when I'm bad I'm bad. I stayed with him for so much longer than I should of because I gained about 80 lbs while being with him (he was SUCH an enabler with my food addiction) and I had/have no self confidence and I was plum scared of being alone. So I chose to be unhappy in my relationship over being alone. I now am alone and I know one day I will be better, but I am still suffering. Especially since within 72 hours of me leaving him he up and left for Texas with my son.... I am sad to be alone but even more sad that my son is gone.... Even though I KNOW this was the right decision 150%, it's hard to think that there will ever be a man out there for me! But there was a REASON I was engaged to this man for 2 years and would never marry him. In my gut I ALWAYS knew, and would ALWAYS make excuses. And like you, BBJ, I found myself having issues being attracted to him. Prior to him I'd always dated very in-shape men, and he had a gut and no motivation to be healthy with me. I hope that one day once I drop this weight that I have my confidence back like you do BBJ! More power to ya girl!!! If anyone is interested, I've been blogging about my WLS since Dec 2010, and there's more details about all this there.... www.diaryofafatwhitewoman.blogspot.com

It's good you found a revision doctor who can do the removal/revision/plication take down at once. Recovery is a bit more difficult and longer than implanting your band, but once you are there, the aftercare is minimal. Just want to warn you that I know several whose tests showed the band placement was fine and once they got into surgery, they found the bands had eroded, adhered to other organs, etc. barium swallows, even endoscopy showing a healthy stomach can be a false negative for slips and partial erosion. They just can't tell for sure, until you're opened up. Best wishes for a quick surgery and speedy recovery.

As far as I know, the most common reason for doing band removal and revision surgery in 2 separate surgeries is to allow the body to heal before subjecting it to more surgery. I don't want to rain on your parade, but it's impossible to predict what your upper GI tract is going to look like when your new surgeon goes in there to remove your band. If there's a lot of scar tissue or inflammation, it might not be safe to proceed with the sleeve at that time. I had my band removed in April 2012. I went in to the operating room expecting to wake up with a sleeve, and I woke up with nothing - no band, no sleeve. Here's a link to a recent thread about the band versus the sleeve, on which I posted my own story. If you have any questions after reading it, please let me know. If I don't know the answer, I may be able to point you in the right direction. Just one more thing - I applaud you for getting a 2nd opinion about this. Your health is too important to allow a doctor to pooh-pooh your concerns.

I had to make the same decision between sleeve and bypass. Most studies show that bypass patients loose faster and have great % of excess weight loss at 1 year post-op, but by year three the weight loss is the same for both procedures. The risk of regain is also pretty close for both procedures (although a lot of it is up to you and the choices you make). However, if you do regain weight down the road (which can happen), the options for a revision from a bypass are limited. If you have the sleeve, you can always convert to a bypass or SIPS/modified DS down the road (I think SIPS is going to be the revision of choice in 5 years). I originally was leaning towards the bypass, but my surgeon pushed hard on the sleeve. I took his advise and I don't regret it.

Mine is Jan 6th I’m having revision. VSG to RNY

Leaks are higher risk for revision. It's a bad plan to think that "I'll try the band and then revise". Main reasons people revise from sleeve to bypass is out of control reflux. If you already have reflux think long and hard if the sleeve is right for you. Leaks can happen with sleeve or bypass but aren't THAT common for first time surgeries. I think about 1-2% for sleeve. ..higher for band to sleeve revision. Read that link that was posted above. Study it. Great article on some underlying theories about how the surgery works. I was originally told I would not do well with sleeve since it is just restriction and you have more capacity than band even. This article even helped me understand why the sleeve worked so well for me when band did not. Sleeve seems to be more than restriction it does create some other changes.

Allie.. I am sorry you have gone through this. I know your pain . I don't agree about deleting this thread however. People can say what they will about me or my story but it's the truth. I don't post to in any way influence the currently banded but rather for pre ops to hear all sides of the story so they have way more info than I did. I fully realize that some are very successful and I applaud them heartily. ..but the band is much harder to live with and I know that to be true. What I notice is that the "band community" seems to blame the patients when things go wrong. It was like that 10 years ago too which shamed me into thinking it was all my fault and that I would fail with any WLS. My only regret is that I beat myself up for so long over it. 10 years of my life I felt like the most miserable excuse of a human who could be obese AFTER WLS. Threads like this let the readers make their own decisions. While it is true I am only one naive revisionista... I have lost over 160# since my revision and am maintaining. That did not happen for me when banded.. so for what it's worth..it is my story and if it helps one other person it's worth it.

Lap band or sleeve? Why did you get revision to sleeve? I do believe that is the heading of this thread. Why would you be trolling in here ? It is a discussion about "why people converted to a sleeve". Now who is not being a nice boy? I'm not in a bandster support thread.

Each WLS has pros and cons. None are perfect, none are guaranteed. I had the lapband in 2001 and had to sign a statement acknowledging that the band is temporary and would likely need to be removed. At the time I thought "this is great, I lose weight and then they remove this pesky thing". Well, i clearly did not have a very good handle on managing obesity over a lifetime to be thinking that way. I hear they no longer advertise it as needing to be removed so maybe something is different now. The lapband is just trickier. Some people have tremendous success but wind up revising due to slipping, or port flipping or something like that. Some people like me really didn't have much success with the band because I guess I never found that "sweet spot". I was always hungry and i didn't lose the drive to eat. One thing I have since learned is that I am very carb sensitive so need to eat a certain way to manage hunger, even with the sleeve. I didn't know that back then. Anyway, people who are having success always love their own choice, people who aren't usually don't. I think it is smart to look at studies showing things like excess weight loss maintained at 5 years, how many are revised etc. And ask your surgeon for some of this info too. Personal stories can be misleading. I have lost well over 160# since being revised to the sleeve and currently maintaining at 140#. That however is NOT a typical revision story and it would be misleading to think everybody has that kind of success.... but it is possible and others have done it too.

I was revised in February and so far I've lost 28 pounds. I would like to lose another 20-25. The weight, though not flying off, is pretty steady at coming off in ounces. I stall every now and again but it lasts maybe a week. I initially didn't like the RNY but I really appreciate it now. I definitely have restriction and it is very easy to not go overboard otherwise I'll be in agony and I'm against that! I am in a caloric deficit for sure but I'm wondering if my body will get used to the tiny amount I'm taking in and just stop losing.

How long ago were you revised ? I lost a total of 25lbs and I thought the RNY was easier and I am able to maintain my weight without a lot of effort. I hope you find this to be true for you too !!!

My gerd is out of control and I'm 4 years sleeve post op. My r n y revision will be Nov or Dec this year. Even with fasting Water alone for 3 days the gerd is still there and it's too much medicine barely helps anymore !!! Sent from my Z981 using the BariatricPal App I am so sorry. I hope the revision helps immediately. I've heard it does!! Prayers. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I very truly feel your pain. I was sleeved in 2009 and I did fantastic the first 6 years. I lost 149 lbs and 9 dress sizes. At first, I wasn't even exercising and the weight just melted away daily. When I got down to the weight limit that could not be exceeded on an elliptical machine that I borrowed from a sister, I started exercising on it. Eventually, I was using the elliptical for an hour, non-stop, 5 days a week. Everything began to change in December 2014. My father passed away and he was the be all end all of existence for me. I am the youngest of 13 kids and was totally a daddy's girl. He was very ill already, but he ended up dying on my mom's birthday from a heart attack in his sleep. I was the first one to get to his house after my brother who was taking care of him called us all. When I got to my dad, his eyes were still open. My brother was dealing with the coroner and the police officer. I really freaked out and thought I'd better close his eyes before my other sisters or my nieces and nephews saw him. So I did. I closed my father's eyes. My heart broke in half right at that moment. I kinda lost my sh*t. My doc ended up putting me on Xanax and Ambien. Fast forward a few months to April 2015, I ended up getting divorced. Then 15 months later in July 2016 my mother died. Her heart stopped, and during CPR administration, her ribs broke and one pierced her lung. It filled with fluid and because she'd had respiratory issues most of her life, they couldn't help her. She died after 3 agonizing days in the hospital. Then in 2017, I was transferred from one job post to another. They weren't even going to tell me until right before I showed up for work, I found out sooner by accident. I'd been at that post for 10 years. It was a retaliation from a supervisor who knew that I knew too much information about illegal activity that went on under his nose. Literally, every year something horrible was happening to me. The anxiety, depression, and meds led to me not giving a sh*t about what I ate and a lot of drinking. I was drinking every night. I wasn't exercising anymore. I was eating anything I wanted to eat. It was still very little food, because I had a lot of restriction. But I was eating every kind of junk food you can think of. I was eating at all hours of the day. I was grazing, as they call it. I could eat every 3 hours. And the alcohol was just straight shots of tequila. By 2022, I had regained most of my weight and gone back up 6 sizes. You can lose weight again. You can detox from carbs. You can go back to protein shakes. This past May, I started dieting (on my own) because the doc wanted me to lose weight before he'd do the revision. I was drinking a protein shake for breakfast and for lunch, then I was eating a good, solid, very low carb (even zero carb) dinner. No alcohol. In 30 days, I lost 30 lbs. And this was before my surgery. It is absolutely possible, but you have to make the effort and you have to have the discipline. The first 3-4 days are tough as you detox, but then it just gets easier and easier. I wish you luck, friend.

Hi Sarah, congrats. You're so brave having a revision as it must've been a more complex surgery. Does it hurt more than the plication did? Your the first GPS revision I've heard of. You'll have to keep us posted on how it's different once you're further out as you have a unique perspective. I wish all the best for a super speedy recovery, I'm sorry you're going through it all again, but you're sounding very positive!

If your posting already, you must have come through the surgery quite well. Congrats. Do you know what size bougie your doc used on you for your revision?

ROFL. I guess I will be a self-pay, too. I guess it's not "enough" loose skin for insurance to pay (ok, I won't exclude being lucky so lets wait and see, I'm financially prepared already for the worst case though). I'm looking into the Avelar technique and would have to go to Austria then but I essentially cancelled all the thoughts about plastics (well, almost all thoughts...) when surgeons recommended a revision and told me to expect another 10% weight loss. 6.something kg doesn't sound that much but at a height of 167 cm it means more than two BMI points. However, I can have a mommy makeover myself then when the time comes around. Surgeons in Germany usually don't do breasts and tummy in one sitting when insurance covers the procedures because of how hospital stays are paid. (Germany's health care system is sick in its own special way.) ETA: Yes, gotta see the bright site of being a self-pay. One can get what's medically safe and not what some insurance company thinks they're going to pay for.

After being banded with plication in August 2012, I have been having quite a bit of pain for the last three months. I went to my surgeon who acted like he doesn't want to bother with me. Just real rude and acted like my pain was no big deal. So I saw another surgeon who was kind enough to take me on. My body is rejecting the lapband. It seems it doesn't like having a foreign object in it. So my band is going to be removed and I will be revised to the sleeve all in one surgery. I have lost weight with the band but my body doesn't like it.

The problem I have with the study on re operations and complications is that it doesn't define the criteria or time frame. I personally, in real life, know many bandsters including myself, and the complication and re operation rates over the long haul is much much higher than the article states. While I realize that my social circle does not constitute a scientific study something just does not seem right The word "complications" means different things to different people. While death rates are surely higher for sleeve and bypass I don't believe at all that complication rates are higher. I think that article understates it for all actually. I read a study a few years back that 30% of sleevers develop reflux. Many of them at around the 3 year mark. In my mind that is a complication. I know that over the 5-10 year time frame the band has an even higher complication rate. To me the moral of the story is that WLS is no cake walk and really should not be done unless all other avenues have been exhausted. They all come with risks AND different "odds of success". Any individual can either exceed or fall short of those statistics but the excess weight loss stats do sorta paint the picture. For me what the stats don't really capture is quality of life for some people's (apparently not all). Example, I spent a decade where a few tastes of rice would send me vomiting even though ALL of that decade I was morbidly obese. I hit my lifetime highest weight while banded, never got under 200# , experienced alot of pain and vomiting, poor medical care and I really really developed hatred toward the port. I had a lot of self loathing over the topic because I felt like all my band issues were caused by me. I even saw that in this thread. ..essentially that "compliant" patients don't have issues with the band. I no longer believe that statement. .or to put it another way.. I didn't get to weighing twice what an average male should weigh by being consistently compliant with ANY THING! I needed WLS to learn those skills and the band just did not deliver the promises a and was not an effective tool for me. And it was embarrassing to vomit which while infrequent with no fill still happened! Since my revision to the sleeve I have just felt normal (after about 3-6 months post op) and am so far maintaining a massive weight loss...went from a BMI over 50 to my current of around 23.

Oh Gosh, im totally afraid of this! Im taking the options class now and have 4 more classes to go. I've only lost 7 lbs so far and I'm getting a revision from my lapband I had removed in Dec. I currently weigh 184. I'm hoping with 4 more lbs, they wont deny me. I've attended every single class and always turn in my weekly work. Gahh..I feel like a lot of people aren't really on it it my class though. I hope I still get approved.

I am more comfortable with the least-invasive route possible. That was my primary reason for choosing the band. I think the sleeve is an interesting procedure, and will be interested in watching its long-term success/complication rate; it's still considered experimental. Which brings me to the second reason I chose the band: it's not experimental. And that leads directly to the third reason: my insurance won't cover experimental procedures! If, for some reason, I encounter difficulties down the road, I would consider revision to the sleeve if it turns out to be as promising as it seems. But I am confident in my decision to go with the band, at this point, and have no reason to think I will have problems.

I have noticed lately that my carb count is high even when I try to make wise Protein choices. My diet consists of Protein shakes, greek yogurt and cottage cheese. I need to move away from these, at least in part. I am not good at cooking... I hate it. I am on a mission this evening to shop for quick go-to protein items that are low in carbs. As a band-to-sleeve revision, my weight loss is much slower than my roommates (went to Mexico on same date). Also, I have hypothyroidism and I just want to ensure success! I am down 32lbs in 3 months and have 45 to go to goal. Suggestions please!!

I told some people about my first surgery. I learned quickly that in the future to keep to myself and talk in forums like this where people are supportive. I didn't tell anyone but my husband about my revision and things are easier to stay on track without all the background noise. When asked what am I doing, I tell them about my logging, counting calories, getting enough liquid and protein, my exercise (or lack thereof) and relay all the hints that I've learned that has helped me stay on track or get back on track... Etc. I do NOT mention surgery due to people's prejudices and/or intense nagging by family members. So, in essence, I lie by omission.

This is a pretty subjective area, *most* don't see any real losses in that area until much later down the road, belly fat seems to be the last to go for most people. I've still got a decent amount even after over 100 lbs since revision and 160 lbs lost since I started...