I have seen these mentioned with conflicting information so I figured I would ask for myself. What is the difference and what determines which one you get?

your body size big people tend to get the big band and little® people tend to get the other one, its up to your doc once he see's the inside which one he will use

I have the small band, but shortly after I was banded my Doctor's office went with the big band on everyone. They say they have less slips/problems with the bigger band.

The size of your organs and the amount of fat pad around your organs. They don't want to put the smaller band on you if it's going to pinch you closed. That's why they'll say they don't know until they get in and see what your organs look like, how much fat is around them, etc. It has to do with those factors actually much more so than body size. I'm a little over 5'10, (I was 5'11 before I gained the weight :confused: ) with a very large frame, and weighed close to 400 lbs, and got the "little" 4cc band. People who had my same surgeon, and who are much smaller than me (in weight & stature) have the "big" VG band.

To harley's point - some are going with a more "one size fits all" approach, but I think most of the surgeons doing such are going with the larger band, since there's probably not much chance that a large band will cause significant closure from the get-go, but a small band on a large organ absolutely can.

I'm interested to read the studies a year out, comparing successes of the "two" (referring to the two my surgeon uses, understanding there are more than two sizes made) bands, especially around erosion rates.