Hey all, I just began some of my pre op requirements. I don't consult with the surgeon until 8/15/11 so I will post my question here.

In the laproscopic procedure how many incisions are there and how big are they? Where are they placed? I know with the band they make one in the belly button I was wondering if they did the same for the sleeve?

I have 5 and they are all pretty small with the exception of one. The biggest one is to the right of my belly button and is about a little bit bigger than my thumbnail in length. That is where they took my stomach out. The rest of them are about the size of my pinky nail....so, pretty small.

One is all the way to the left almost below my ribs, one right above my biggest incision, one to the left of my belly button and down a little and one right in the middle of my belly.

Kelly

I had five and one of those was used for my drain. They would have placed an incision at the bottom of my belly button but I have had previous surgeries before and due to the those scars they had to put it about an inch below the belly button. They are all very small (smaller than one inch) with the exception of one and that one was an inch (and it was the one the stomach was removed from).

1. below the belly button for me
2. in the upper abdomen
3. in the upper left abdomen
4. in the central abdomen on the left side
5. in the central abdomen on the right side (where my drain was placed and left for one week)

They were glued closed and with the exception of the standard itching from healing all healed very well. The one that took the longest to heal was the one where the drain was. They let it heal on its own without glue or sutures.

I have five and one was for the drain--it has healed into a little round, pink area. The biggest is just above my belly button, it's 3/4 of an inch long (I measured, just for you!) I have a second small one on the right, mid-torso, another tiny one just below my breastbone, and the last one is left, mid-torso, 3 inches away from the drain one.

I was expecting 5, but only ended up with 4. I have 2 of them just above my belly button, one just to the right and one just to the left of it. Like someone mentioned above, they are about the width of my thumbnail - they have healed into 2 little lines. Then I have 2 more on the left side of my abdomen, one is about the size of the width of my pinky nail and it has healed into a little round shape, the same color as my skin, the other one is sooooo tiny on my lower left abdomen that I have to look hard to find it.

i believe different surgeons use different amount of incisions. there's different size camera use to see the inside and that makes a difference in the size of the incision. also the patient makes a difference: size, prior surgeries. i have 4 incisions (one bellybutton, one on the right abdomen, two on the left abd). my bellybutton incision is probably 1 centimeter and the one for the drain 2 centimeters.