Hi,

I had my banding surgery last week and am curious about two things:

1) How long for most people before the surgery stitches are removed?

2) How long until the first fill?

THANKS!

Hi ck - congrats on your surgery! How are you feeling??

I had dissolvable stitches and they were inside of my incision so they were never removed - they just dissolved. The incision was also kind of glued together. And my first fill was about 6-7 weeks post op. Good luck and take it easy!

Unfortunately there isn't a black and white answer to these questions. Doctors are different, people are different, weight losses are different and we heal differently.

My doc for instance generally says 4-6 weeks after being banded to get a fill. However with my first band, I waited 7 weeks. He wanted to fill me at 4 weeks but I wasn't ready so I made an appointment for my 6th week but chickened out and got my fill on the 7th week post op. He didn't seem to argue with me about that

With my second band my doc said to wait 4 weeks I went back on my 6th week and we were surprised to find my doc actually filled me during surgery and had forgotten about it. Sometimes docs fill you during surgery I believe if the band is very loose.

As for healing again this changes with people. My first band after a week I had my stitches removed from my small incisions but my belly button incisions stayed stitched for 2 weeks post op.

My second band everything was removed 1 week post op.

I do know someone banded that had to be restitched and stapled for 3 months post op because she wasn't healing well. So try to keep your incisions clean, dry and take good care of them and your stitches will come out faster hopefully

Like Isa, my stitches were not seen, they were internal. I had the surgical glue that held my incision together. The glue lasted about 12-14days and then came off. I had my 4wk post op yesterday and it was my decision on a fill, I declined. I'm losing at 1-2lb a week, I feel restriction, I'm able to control my hunger and I'm eating less than 1200 cals a day. I have an appt Jan 25 and they will do floro then and I will probably get my first fill.