HI All -

getting ready for surgery on FEB 24th!!!

Just had some questions for post-op bandsters.... I have some concerns about scarring and incisions... How many incision sites are there? My patient advocate had 3 tiny lap scars and one slightly larger scar below belly button...

Also, how bad is the scarring? Has anybody used any treatments to cover scars? Thanks! Would love to hear your experiences!

Just had surgery on 1/27 so mine are still pretty ugly! I had 5 incisions as I had a hiatial hernia repair at the same time. The scariest looking one right now is the port incision. It is larger than the others and is still causing me some pain, very tender and ugly looking. Granted, I am just out of surgery one week today so I do expect they will start looking better. However, I have 5 children so my stomach already looked like a road map with all of the stretch marks beforehand so I'm not really too concerned about scarring. My days of 2 pieces are long over I was told to use Mederma or something similar after I have healed to help with the scarring. I believe there is a thread of scar pics....if you dare.......lol!

Banded 12/29, I have one incision bout 2" long and 2 very small ones and two about the size of the tip of my pinky. They got infected and still haven't healed completely. If you're worried about scarring, Wal-Mart has vitamin E oil you can use to help minimize the scarring. If you are planning on tummy tuck those will be much larger. Good luck and happy banding!

I was banded on the 6th and I have 5 incisions. My biggest worry was keloids and so far I seem to have avoided that. My doctor used dissolvable stiches and covered the incisions with surgical tape that stayed on for a little over a week. The biggest issue I have is that they are darker than my skin so right now I'm using skin whitener and some over the counter scar treatment cream on them. My sister also gave me some perscription stuff that she had but I haven't started using it yet.

Maderma is great for scaring and i have 6 small cuts the larger is where my port is and i am almost 5 weeks post surgery but i do know the maderma works i have used it on other scars ...good luck to all of you that are newly banded!!! and welcome to the journey!!!

I'm 3 years post-op and my stomach is covered in stretch marks, which are far more noticeable than my surgical incisions. My port scar healed up to less than an inch, and you really have to look for it among all my stretch marks. I'm sure the incisions would bother me / be more noticeable if not for all of the stretch marks.....Did I mention all my stretch marks? Haha

I'm five years post op and the worse scars are from my gall bladder surgery in September 2010, but the worse lap band scar is where the port is, and the surgeon puts the port where that the scar looks like a scar from having your appendix removed.

All and all the scars from the lap band surgery are barely noticable, my belly button scar from the gall bladder surgery on the other hand....smh

http://www.scartreatmentassociation.com/scarring-removal/scarprin-review.html

Just think of your streach marks as.. Your a Tigar and have earned every stripe~!

My scars have completely healed and are barely noticeable. Strange thing is that i dont have stretch marks even tho i was extremely heavy .. not that i am complaining , but my worst scar is my caesarian lapband scars fade if they heal well. My port is on my breast bone so that scar isnt even visible ..

That's awesome Guru.. Congrats on the weight loss.

I have 3 tiny scars and one slightly larger (port). After 1.5 years they are hardly noticeable. I used ScarZone after surgery and I think it helped.

2.5 years out and you can hardly see my scars except the port one, most of them are concealed under my boobs! Even the port one is just a thin white line. There are not too many people who get to look at my stomach so it's really not an issue.

well there won't be any bikinis on this body... I had gallbladder surgery in November 5 incisions there, and now the lapband another 5 incisions. at least not right now..

I only had 2 incisions. 1 tiny one under my boob and then a small one where they put in my port. I didn't use anything on them to keep from scarring. My surgeon used some type of super glue instead of stitches and after 2.5 years they are barely noticable unless you are looking for them. My doctor said my scars wouldn't be noticable when I had on my bikini. That's not gonna happen but I have a one piece now that is actually cute and doesn't look like it was made by Omar the tent maker.

Thank you everyone for your responses!