My friend and I both have the lap band. U e had good results but he just found out she may have a leak. I don't think she is using the band the way she should and of course she regrets it. My question. How does a leak happen? Is it from her eating too much? I'm just curious

Is the leak in the band or in the port? I had a leak in my port. It was replaced for free and pretty quickly. I didn't have insurance do he just fixed it in his office without putting me under. He just numbed me. They told me that the leak could be caused by sticking the needle in the wrong place when trying to do a fill. They said this was rare and very hard to do but still possible. They said more than likely it had a leak in the port before they even put it in. Just a faulty port. I don't know much about leaks in the band. Good luck to your friend. I know it can be very discouraging. Follow my lap band blog www.biscuitsandexcuses.blogspot.com

A couple months ago she had a fill and was too tight. She ended up going to to the ER that her doctor told her to go to. Well the ER doc tried to do an unfill and she was bruised all over. She said he use a very long needle and didn't seem to know what he was doing. Finally she wouldn't let her touch him and demanded that her lap band doc come in, which she did. I bet any money that was how she got a leak! She is so frustrated and just wants the band out and she just got it in August. I'm not sure where the leak is. Her doc isn't sure it is that. She took out all the Fluid, which was less than what she should have had and is supposed to go back in 4 weeks. The problem is that she was having a lot of pain in the area of the band. Why would a leak cause pain? I hope she doesn't give up a, the band has worked so nice for me, so far.

I hope she doesn't give up either. It sounds like that doctor really messed her up. My leak didn't cause me any pain. I would just go for a fill and be really restricted and then a few days later feel nothing. Thats how I knew. Good luck to your friend, and good job to you for the 42lb loss.

Leak's happen, (people, nor overeating cause them) it can be the Port or the Tubing. My Doc said that a beveled needle is used to do Fills, If the correct needle isn't use then YES that can cause the port to leak.Not all ER personal or OTHER Doctors ( for that matter) will know how to properly fill, unfill a LB port.

The use of a standard coring needle is strongly discouraged, and only Huber (noncoring) needles should be used to access the port.

​If your friend is experiencing PAIN, it's Likely from the Port, that is what can be felt through the skin of the abdomen.

Injection of dilute nonionic iodinated contrast into the port under fluoroscopy can help to identify the site of the leak.

It's best to tell her to have the Doctor do tests to find the leak source, tubing can also be a source

Good Luck to your Friend, and your future success.

http://www.ncbi.nlm....les/PMC3038361/

This is just terrible to hear. I noticed that I didn't have any restriction and started gaining weight and Dr. Ren said I have a leak. I don't know where the leak is yet but I don't have insurance anymore and I can't really afford to have it fixed yet. I have gained back 35lbs and I could just die. It's been great for 5 years and now this? SO MAD!! Please keep an update if your friend gets her band replaced.

Thanks!

I have had a leak for 15 months. I had two port replacements surgeries - one where they found the leak and replaced the tubing and port and the second where the couldn't find the leak so didn't replace anything. After both surgeries I was found to still be leaking so a week ago I had full band replacement surgery.

Leaks aren't caused by the patient. It is usually band failure.

I also gained weight after the leak happened - 35lbs too but I lost 15 of that on my own before my replacement surgery by counting cals and exercising. But it was hard, I won't lie.

Since getting my band replaced I'm already down nearly 7lbs in a week.

Ok, the thing is that leaks are caused by improper needles used to fill your band or faulty ports or tubing. If that ER doctor didn't use a CURVED needle (Beveled Needle is the common name) then more than likely he did cause it. When you fill or unfill your port a special needle is needed to be used and you should look at it. If the needle does not have a curve in it then DO NOT let that doctor touch your port at all. I hope that your friend does better.

My port is underneath my abdominal muscle so I have to go all the way under to have anything done/fixed. I have only ever had fills done at Dr. Ren's office by either her or her PA's. Sometimes they have a hard time getting to the port because it's under the muscle and that's the only thing I can think of that could have caused it. I haven't had any pain, thank goodness, but I have gained back so much weight and now I don't fit in any of my clothes! I am hoping to get insurance in August and then I will have a revision done. It's so frustrating. I want that feeling of restriction again sooooo bad!