I discovered this website last night and literally spent hours reading about the lap band. I am trying to become as educated as possible about weight loss surgery options and appreciate all the helpful information posted here. Until I read it here, I didn't realize there were different lap band sizes. Can anyone tell me what determines which size is used? Does one offer advantages (or disadvantages) over another?

Well I have the original band, wich is the 4cc band.

I have been told that it is not really used that much anymore,

except for Mexico.

I don't know if this is true or not. but I love that little Band.

Your surgeon will decide what band is best for you.

You should get some comments on here, and you will see how many

different sizes that there are in the band.

Should be interesting, Shirley.

I belive you anatomy will determine the band size. I believe that the standard sizes at 10 and 14cc

There are also 9cc and 11cc bands. Different brands offer different sizes. One good post I read mentioned that the bigger band might take longer to get to your sweet spot, depending on how aggressively your doctor fills. Also, it could depend on the size of your stomach, how much fat is there, etc. on which size they use. Also, there are different port sizes. Realize has a lower profile port than Lap-Band.

Here's a page that you can compare the two brands. It may be more biased toward Realize since it's on their site...

http://www.realize.com/lap-band-comparison.htm

I think your surgeon has a brand preference and then decides the size when you are on the table and he can have a look. I have a 10cc Allergan and it has 8cc in it which is perfect for me to maintain.

Thank you all for your replies, which help a lot!

The ;;surgeon will usually have a brand preference. Between Realize and Allergan.........well one is just about as bad as the other from what I can tell. :-(

Keep in mind that regardless of how many cc's your band holds...........that you may NEVER reach restriction! This happens to about 20% of bandsters. Unfortunately most Drs. or band mills do NOT tell patients this BEFORE they put the band in them! :-(

My Dr explained the process to me and told me what to expect. The size of the band is determined by the size of your stomach and fat around it. I have a 14cc band and she came in and told me after surgery what I had. I am glad to have the larger band because I have been able to have it tweaked a little more and know I still have plenty of room left if I need another fill in years to come. Good luck in your decision

hai this is micky,im suffers for acidity n y stomach after i dignosis by doctor he founds gastic folds in my stomach he prefer me a medicine but its not very helpful for me, then i go to decided for lap band doctors are also agreed ,but when i go search in computer web ther lots of precausion,after lap band surgery, my life is no more normal, lots of precausions, & im noe only 30 yrs im not a over weight,can any one tell me after lap band hw is life coz u cant eat so much.& plz share ur operation is it horrible & risky

regards

micky

Thanks again for the helpful replies. Could someone please tell Mickey how to move his post to create a new topic? I am new and lack the know-how to help him.