Why did you make the decision to band instead of sleeve???

My daughter dropped a bombshell and I'm worried

My daughter called tonight to tell me she is scheduled on June 18th for gastric sleeve surgery in San Antonio, TX. I asked why the sleeve and she said because her surgeon no longer does lapband surgery because of the high failure he had with patients. He only does bypass surgery and the gastric sleeve only. My late husband's. mother died of stomach cancer as did her Aunt on her father's side die from stomach cancer last year. My daughter said she wants a permanent fix because she can't be bothered going back for fills. I'm really worried about her but thrilled that she is doing something about her weight.

Has anyone heard of a doctor not wanting to do the band because of a high failure rate? I haven't.

Also, she is self pay because her insurance does not cover gastric sleeve surgery. Her surgeon is charging her $4500 for the surgery plus she has to stay 3 days in the hospital which she also has to pay. She is putting it all on Care Credit.

I'm very concerned for my daughter as she has never had major surgery and she has a little 1 yr old to take care of as well.

Sorry for rambling on but I'm concerned about my daughter getting the sleeve.

The very first bariatric surgeon I consulted told me he no longer did lapbands, and said "they now take out more lapbands than they put in."

So I found another surgeon. That surgeon told me he refused to do the Sleeve, based on the lack of longterm data (the procedure is still considered "new", certainly when compared with the Lapband), and (more importantly, at least to me), that he currently had several sleeved patients on his ward in the hospital, being treated for leaks along the staple line. And that is one long hospital stay, when those leaks happen, with bad consequences for the pouch.

In the end, I choose the lapband because cutting out part of my stomach? Um, no. Just the thought makes me squeamish.

There is a lot of misinformation about the band vs sleeve. For a long time I wondered why. Finally my doctor explained to me that many surgeons dissuade their patients from doing the band and pump up the sleeve procedure because it's easier for them- they don't worry about fills, support, nutritional counseling, developing a relationship with the patient etc.

Not having to do fills allows them more time in the operating room which is where the big bucks are made. They see you for a preop visit, do the surgery, then once more for a post-op, and then they're done with that patient forever!

Does this mean that the sleeve is a BAD surgery?? NO! I have a friend who has had success with it (so far), but, when a doctor so strongly dissuades the band, you should probably get another opinion, because the reality is that there is 2x the amount of data of LB surgery than there is on the sleeve surgery

Just my 2 cents

My concern is when I speak to people on the sleeve side there are like 80% of them that did the sleeve after they had major issues with the band . Today I'm leaning way more to the sleeve but I might change my mind