I know I'm going to be asked why I am getting it out so I will cover that real fast. I got my lap band in 2009 and have had trouble with it from the very beginning. Turns out I have a sensitive stomach and it responds to irritation by swelling. Every time I would try to get a fill my stomach would swell to the point I couldn't even swallow anything which would trigger the slimming effect and I couldn't even get that down so I would have to go back and get it back out. Even without a fill I have a lot of restriction and due to the swelling it is unpredictable how restricted I am and changes by the hour. This results in me vomiting on a good day made 3 times but most of the time around 10xs a day. a couple years ago I started to get a constant burning ache down the center of my chest which I can only reason to be esophagus damage and I have heart burn all the time. I won't go out to eat with friends or my husband cause it is embarrassing to make three trips to the bathroom in a restaurant or someone's house. As if that's not enough I have had trouble with my port as well. It has always been a problem as well. i don't know what it catches on inside of me or how but from time to time if I bend wrong the dang thing catches on something and the only thing I can do is push through it until it pops back. It also sits where my belly folds in a sitting position my pants put pressure on it so if I have to sit for a period of time it really starts to hurt. I lost 60lbs the first year and my weight has been stable ever since even through pregnancy. I think I could be happy at the size I am now but I want the saggy belly gone it sucks the joy out of my weight loss. I was already scheduled for a tummy tuck back in December but I had to post pone it due to breaking my leg in a motorcycle accident. Anyhow now that I am on the mend and have decided I want the band gone ( it is not benefitting me in anyway!) i don't see the point in have two different surgeries when they could just do it at the same time. I just have no idea how to go about arranging it, my insurance will pay for the band removal but the tummy tuck is on me.... Any how just curious if anybody out there has done this??? Would love to hear some experiences

I doubt you'll find a doctor who would accept the liability of doing both? Unless they're laparoscopic trained as well as trained in plastic surgery. You're talking about two very different types of doctors and surgeries.

tmf

Your bariatric dr may know a plastic surgeion who could join him in surgery...mine offered to join my PS to install a low profile port when I had my tummy tuck but I would be surprised if a removal and tt could be done together...as the band removal surgery would most likely be done like it was going in... which didn't require a hip to hip cut which the tummy tuck does... They are pretty different procedures. But it doesn't hurt to ask.

Well yes I realize it would require the presence of two surgeons which is why I'm was wondering how that would work on the insurance side. I understand the lap band wouldn't require a hip to hip cut however with the tummy tuck they will be doing muscle repair which means I will be opened up all the way to my sternum. The ps could open me up, then the bariatric surgeon could do his portion, yes he would still have to pierce my abdominal wall but it could be done without going through the skin and adipose layers. Then the ps could close me up.

We have a plastic surgeon that works with our bariatric center.