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I am going for a revision from the band to the sleeve on the 10th. I have had the band for 5 years. As you must see from your friends with issues, there can be some and then you may need it removed and be back to where you started: getting the sleeve. I say sleeve all the way.

Ppl who revised to sleeve... did u have acid reflux w band n did it go away sleeve

I had the Sleeve in 2009 and revision to Bypass in May 2020, after regaining all the initial weight I had lost and having medical issues including severe GERD. I lost 40 pounds in the first four months since the revision. It also helped me get off of multiple medications and improved health issues I had begun having. It was a hard decision to make, but I'm very happy and so much healthier than before. I ride a stationary bike 30-60 minutes a day now, and before the revision I would not have been able to do this. Great decision for me

I have seen a few people post about significant regains on the Obesityhelp Revision Forum. I have also seen some posted on an Aussie sleeve forum where they have been doing vertical sleeves longer than in the U.S. A few of the ladies had significant regains after pregnancies which we all know could happen because pregnancy can obviously make people gain weight (although I know one lady who is about to have her 2nd post op baby and has remained slim throughout!!). Some of the people had simply not lost enough weight to get out of the obese or morbidly obese BMI range. And yes, some people had gone back to eating crap and gained weight back. Unfortunately it can happen with any surgery if you revert back to snacking on high carb foods especially like cookies or ice cream on a very regular basis. A couple of people experienced regains after going on a medication for an illness that causes weight gain. A few of them had been sleeved back when the stomachs were made quite a bit bigger than they are now and didn't remove all of the fundus like most surgeons do now. We always have to remain forever vigilant and learn the good habits after surgery. Not eating and drinking at the same time---protein first--things like that are big rules for a reason. Good luck everybody!

Hi Jackie, I know you from OH. I am a revision from a lapband to a sleeve. In fact, there are a lot of us here; people who revised from a lapband to a sleeve. Welcome!

I have no idea what "furl this post" means! I am revising because I am sick of the band with all the problems of fills and unfills. I wish I had known about the sleeve from the beginning. I am looking forward to having restriction and not worrying that the band is doing some sort of damage to my stomach.

Hi Jackie, welcome to LBT. There are several of us that are revisions from the band to sleeve. There are some who went with the sleeve first. We are a mixed variety, but I believe we all love our sleeves. I just revised from the band to the sleeve on April 2nd. So far, I am very happy with my decision to do so.

Jill, No one can tell you what to do... not me & not your friend. I can tell you that I was certain that this would work for everyone but me... in fact, I felt sure that I would probably die during surgery. In the end, I decided that I would rather take the risk of death or yet another failure than to keep my life in the miserable state that it was. I have been amazed at how well this surgery has worked for me. In the beginning, you will be pretty restricted as to what you can eat... but after about 4-6 months out, there is nothing that I can eat... in small portions. I feel better now than I ever have in my adult life. I can't tell you what to do & maybe you should talk to some people who have revised from lapband (Miss Diva comes to mind). But if you are genuinely that unhappy with yourself, what are you really risking? If the surgery doesn't work for you, then you are no worse off than you were before. Just my 2 cents. Best of luck with your decision!

Unfortunately I was not advised the GERD could get worse. Originally my doctor was going to perform the RNY but at the last minute he changed his mind and said he thought it was best for me to have the VSG. Since I was on the fence I agreed. I mean he is the doctor and should know best. Little did I know I would end with all the complications. ???? But believe me this time I am drilling every one I see for information. I would have a revision to a RNY if I have a good chance of getting better & jerking the weight down. I had labs recently with a metabolic panel and my thyroid is ok. So I know is not that. ????

Same here. From the moment they weighed me at consultation, they told me if I gained one ounce that Aetna would see me as non-compliant and toss me. Game over. Since it was a revision, I was told losing weight wouldn’t matter JUST DO NOT GAIN!!! I was so concerned, I tracked every darn thing that went in my mouth. I made sure I never went over 1100 calories a day on my Lose It app. I got 90 grams of protein in every day. By the time surgery came around 3.5 months later, they almost called it off because I’d lost 30 pounds and they were afraid the pre-op 5day would make me ineligible for anything but the band removal portion. I guess the point is, this is not a casual thing. You’re either in and serious about doing what needs to be done or your not. They want to see you do well and follow directions/meet benchmarks on the pre-op side because that indicates that you have the drive and determination to be successful on the other side.

hi mimi, please tell me what it is like having a revision from lapband to sleeve? Do you have acid reflux or vomiting like I have with band? I have had the band for 15 years, it helped me lose weight and keep it off but I vomit all the time. I damaged my esophagus and I have to have it taken out. One doctor suggests sleeve and another mini GBP. WHich one is better?

Hi, I had my lap band placed in 2006 and I did great I went from 245 lbs to 134 lbs with eating right and lots of exercise. During that time I went through a divorce and moved back to California from Arizona, I enrolled back into College so that I could earn my degree in nursing. So with that said I stayed very busy met my new husband and started to put weight slowly back on, not much but enough to feel it. I joined the gym in January 2018 and dropped weight, toned up and put on muscle. I started to experience severe GERD to the point of vomiting while sleeping! I had not kept up with my lap band maintenance or adjustments in about 7-8 years. I decided it was time to consider removing the band after 3 trips to the ER within 3 months. I met a wonderful Bariatric doctor who suggested I consider and research a revision from the band to the gastric sleeve, now this was a surprise to me as I am 5'5 142 lbs and a size 2. He explained everything thoroughly, detailed and why medically this would be a great option, he did also give me the option of simply removing the band as he felt the issues I was having was that after 13 years my body was "rejecting the foreign object" thus the lap band plus I also had a large hard bump where the port was located due to my slimmer torso. After researching the pros and cons I decided to go for the revision, which was done 5/20/19, my doctor did the removal of the band and sleeve all in one procedure (3.5 hours) I felt this would be best as I did NOT want to have to go under twice. I had NO issue with my insurance due to the reason and medical documentation to support the revision. So far so good, I will say the one thing my doctor told me (which I have learned)is forget everything you learned and lived with with your Band the sleeve is a whole new ball game! I was only on liquids for 2 days post op, protein shakes started on day 2 as well with jello and broth, 10 days post op I started on eggs, beans, yogurt, cottage cheese, tuna salad and have had no issue. I drink a lot of water up to 1 gallon a day and that I must say has changed as I now have to sip (not chug) throughout the day. Lots of sugar free popsicles, watermelon and sugar free jello have been my best friends when I feel I need to hydrate. I've also started to go back to the gym as of day 11 post op (once I got my doctors ok) NO weights, midline or core workouts only treadmill, stair climber and spin class (modified) for an hour each day and let me tell you this has helped tremendously with the swelling and gas! My advice would be to get another medical opinion and get and stay as active as possible. It's a lifestyle change and a daily battle (for me). Hope this help :)

About the only way you can get revision is serious GERD. But weight gain that soon after sleeve may indicate to some surgeons you aren't ready to undergo another procedure. Check with your bariatric center and see if what you are eating is contributing to weight gain. (are you back to old habits like soda, fast food, junk food, snacking, grazing, etc,). Also be aware that some medications can cause weight gain. Check any meds you take for weight gain as side effect. You need to figure out what is really going on before considering surgery again. With the restriction gone from sleeve, your weight now depends on you and see what you can do to fix problem. Getting regular exercise? Sent from my SM-T580 using BariatricPal mobile app

How can I get a revision gastric sleeve approved? Had my surgery August 2018 started at 248 lowest at 170 and now I’m up at 195. I can’t seem to loose any more weight. But I don’t know how I would be able to get a revision.  Any suggestions? 

It was not Dr. Almanza. I no longer have the band. So is that still considered a revision because they wont be taking it out? I could ask facilitators this also haha. =)

I had Dr Fernando Garcia, coordinators ready4achange do my revision and he was excellent. You really don't remember your Dr's name from your surgery? Good Luck

Hey everyone, it has been an interesting and life altering 10 months, but I have finally hit the 100 lbs lost mark. I am over 15 lbs below my original goal, 5 pounds below my revised goal and now officially past my dream come true goal. Now that I have hit the goal, I do still want to lose a bit more, but my body will decide when enough is enough, and if that was now I would be okay with that. Keep up all your hard work everyone, there is no better feeling then seeing the results of all your hard work!

Hi, I have done extensive research into many Dr. I know that Dr. Ariel Ortiz at the Obesity Control Centre in TJ, is the expert in Lapband's revisions, problems and issues. He was on the Oprah show in the past and has an excellent reputation. I am scheduled on April 9Th for Sleeve Surgery with him. The other Dr you have mentioned Dr G Alvarez is very well known as a specialist as well. If it was a seedy place you went to but I think you said a good Dr. Was that Dr. Mario Almanza by chance?

My surgery was actually a revision from a Gastric Bypass I had done about 9 years ago. My surgeon is Dr. John Alexander and my surgery was done at Forest Park Medical Center where The Alexander Center For Obesity Surgery is located. Yes, I'm 15 days out as of today and everything so far has been great. I chose Dr. Alexander because he specializes in revisions and does quite a few of lap band to Sleeve and Gastric Bypass to Sleeve surgeries. If you haven't added me as a friend... do so. For some reason when I try and add people I keep getting an error message. Would love to keep up with your progress and it's cool to have a Sleeve Buddy so close... :-)

You'll be fine, I had a slipped band and tons of inflammation, was a bit of a special case. If I'd just been a regular revision it would all been fine but I had the added drama of a prolapse stomach and urgent surgery . I can never do things the way way! Try not to stress too much!!!! HW 312, pre-op (lap-band) 294, pre-op (RNY) 255, surgery date 2/11/13, goal weight 154, current weight 223

re: placement of the band. was his discovered during the revision to by-pass. could they have seen this on x-rays? Did the complications start right away,after you had lost some weight or when you started to re-gain. thanks

I did for my lap band, and because they withheld fluids for 24 hours, I actually asked for more - that's how parched I was. I don't like doing them because of the radiation involved, but I did get nuked pre-surgery to see how my lap band was working. For the bypass revision, the doc was fine knowing that I could drink regular things and not throw up. If there is a cool thing about the barium swallow is...how do I say this...your body cannot digest it at all...so it goes in white...and comes out white

@@drmeow I hope your sleeve ultimately works out for you. It must have been very disappointing to go through all that and still not end up with the procedure you wanted. I suppose if it doesn't work out, a revision to bypass is always possible, though you obviously can never get that 80% of your stomach back. I think that if you are diligent and focus on making the most of your sleeve, it can work for you. All the best!

Hi fellow September 24th bandsters (well sort of). I wanted to just stop in and say hello. I was first banded in January 08 and my band had a leak and I was rebanded last week along with you September Samurais. Congratulations on being banded and I hope you will all be successful with the band! It's a life changing journey if you want it to be and if you work with the band properly. Each of you will have different experiences along the way. At some points it will be hard and you'll wonder if it's worth it, but just remind and encourage yourself to keep going because it is worth it (at least I think it is) and because you deserve it! If you gain weight one week, don't come down so hard on yourself and remember it's one week out of the entire year. Try to be positive and notice the small changes along the way because they help put things into perspective. And don't let people tell you that you took the easy way out because it's a lot of hard work! I forgot what it was like to be banded until I had to go through it again! My revision was not as invasive as the first one as all my dr. had to do was remove the old band and put in a new one (so there's not a tremendous amount of healing to do because most of the scar tissue is formed already to hold the band in place, but there is a small amount of new stitching that needs to heal). The first few days were just as rough as the first go-around though, but after that I have recovered a lot quicker than the first time. However, I'm still on the the post-op diet like the rest of you so I can empathize (gotta love them liquids! So happy to be on pureeds now!) Now that a week has gone by, it seems like most of you are feeling much better, which I'm happy to hear! It might feel like the first month or so will seem to drag on, especially with the post-op diet and you'll think you'll never get to chew real food again, but I promise, you will! It will pass, and before you know it, you'll be 2,3,5,8 months post-op and you'll wonder where the time went! If you have any questions please feel free to ask, and I will answer them to the best of my ability! Melody, I found out at the age of 20 that baby food is actually pretty good (who knew)! I'm a fan of the oatmeal and pears (or apples). I add some sweetnlow because it doesn't come sweetened and you would think you're eating the most delicious apple cobbler/crisp you've ever had. Cream of tomato soup is good and I add in some ricotta cheese to up the Protein, plus it adds a nice flavor. I also just microwave some ricotta (you could use cottage cheese too) with some tomato sauce and add basil and garlic and onion powder! It's like a good Pasta dish minus the pasta. I made some cream of sweet potato soup with babyfood sweetpotatoes (again the baby food). I did 1 jar of Stage 2 (I think like 3-4oz jar) and add a half cup of skim milk and like 1/4cup of Water and I heated it and added a bit of ricotta cheese and garlic/onion powder, salt and pepper and it was really good too. It had a nice sweetness to it too. The first time around I had butternut squash soup which I made from jarred butternut squash and followed the recipe on the jar. I also made a cream of cauliflower soup which was good too. I think I have the recipe if you want it. I think I found it here on LBT. Be well everyone! -Redtulips

These are my before and after tummy tuck photos. As you can see that pre-op there was a lot of excess skin and the port can be seen. Post-op pictures are two weeks out and as you can see the port is no longer visible. My starting weight was 329 lbs. and my day of surgery weight was 129 lbs. Please feel free to ask me any questions and I hope that this post helps you with your decision.