Curious as to why people choose the band over the sleeve. I understand the points about the band i.e. reversible, no cutting, etc. It just seems like so many people have problems with finding a comfortable spot regarding fills etc., after surgery.

The sleeve was not a choice when I made my decision, but I think it would still hold. Cutting away 80% of my stomach is very scary to me. I just spoke with my surgeon about the sleeve. His feeling is that it is still too new.

But someone has to provide the long term results. Even though the requirements for the various procedures are the same (except the duodinal switch), I feel that at my lower starting BMI and co-morbidities, lacking diabetes, that banding was my best choice. And I've done very well with it.

It wasnt a choice for me either - and nor was bypass which is very rarely done here in Australia. The band is really it as far as bariatric surgery goes.

I like the adjustability of the band - but by the same token, its that very adjustability that leads to situations that require adjustment! I personally have needed to unfill due to illness, lost a heap of weight and needed to regain, so for me that's been a good thing.

I'd be attracted to the sleeve now though I think - imagine restriction without being unable to eat certain foods! I'm missing half my colon and all of my rectum now, and doing OK without those, so I dont think I'd balk at reducing the size of my stomach anymore.

My original surgeon tried to push me to the bypass over the band which I was not comfortable with. I did consider the sleeve for a moment because if I needed to do something irreversible in order to succeed I wanted to do the sleeve because it leaves the digestive system intact but my insurance wouldn't cover me because my BMI wasn't 50 or higher. Fortunately while I was doing research about the sleeve I found out about gastric plication. Although the procedure is still consider investigational at this point I believe that it holds promise. I am having it done in addition to getting the band. The early results show that the banded plication results in similar weight loss as the sleeve without removing my stomach and complications like slippage and erosion are less likely to happen. Also I will get restriction primarily from the plication and the band will serve as a back up. I hope to never need to get the band filled, which will probably eliminate having the usual problems with getting fills. I feel that with the WLS field is still evolving and I didn't want to make a decision that I could undo.

I felt more comfortable with the band - the idea that it was adjustable, reversible, etc. When I met with my surgeon, he agreed with my choice. He also does sleeves, but he said my BMI was on the lower end of the obese scale, and he recommended the lapband, and to keep the sleeve in the back pocket in case something went wrong with the band or in case I ate my way around the band and got even heavier.

My surgeon wanted me to get the sleeve, but my insurance won't cover it because it is too new with not a lot of research. Which is fine by me. My surgeon told me that even though I have 100+ pounds to loose, the band can do that for me. So I am happy with that!

I am a self pay and I chose the band because it was cheaper. Plus I was scared of the more invasive surgeries.

For me it was simply about needing a tool to lose and keep off the weight. I knew I could lose weight (sort of) as I had lost before on diets but always seemed to have given up after 40, 50 lbs because I was board or hungry. I felt that with the band I wouldnt be either. And it turns out I was right. Its been alot of work but I am so close to goal I am sure this was the right move for me.

I didnt want to go drastic with the sleeve by mutilating my stomach. I researched the band and that made the most sense to me since I liked the idea if anything went wrong it could be removed. I have an employee who had the bypass and has had over 15 surgeries to correct issues and problems. That scared me to death. Since the sleeve is new I didnt really want to be a test mouse.

Well in last nights support meeting I went to, out of the 4 people I talked to, the sleeved patient was not at the point that she felt happy with the sleeve and the 3 bandsters said they LOVE it! They all but 1 had their procdure done 2 months ago.