Okay, the surgeon I picked is very experienced. He used to do mostly lapbands, with some gastric bypass. Now there are almost all sleeves - with the occasional bypass and lapband thrown in. He has done hundreds of Gastric Sleeves and keeps records and stats on his patients. They have good data for 3 years and have results that exceed the "published" success rates. I guess I didn't ask the question of how many actual revisions they have done. It is less then 50. That is a drop in the hat compared to what some of the Mexican surgeons have done. I like my surgeon and their office, have no other reasons of concern, am blessed to have insurance coverage so I am inclined to stay with the path I am on.... but I have always heard that "100" of a given procedure is what makes a surgeon an expert. I am not sure if I should be worried. Given the relative "newness" of the gastric sleeve as such a popular procedure I am curious what others find in their surgeon's level of experience with revisions from the band to the sleeve.

Okay, the surgeon I picked is very experienced. He used to do mostly lapbands, with some gastric bypass. Now there are almost all sleeves - with the occasional bypass and lapband thrown in. He has done hundreds of Gastric Sleeves and keeps records and stats on his patients. They have good data for 3 years and have results that exceed the "published" success rates. I guess I didn't ask the question of how many actual revisions they have done. It is less then 50. That is a drop in the hat compared to what some of the Mexican surgeons have done. I like my surgeon and their office, have no other reasons of concern, am blessed to have insurance coverage so I am inclined to stay with the path I am on.... but I have always heard that "100" of a given procedure is what makes a surgeon an expert. I am not sure if I should be worried. Given the relative "newness" of the gastric sleeve as such a popular procedure I am curious what others find in their surgeon's level of experience with revisions from the band to the sleeve.

I really don't think you have much to be worried about. 50 revisions is good and since he is well rounded in the sleeve itself, I'd say he is relatively of good experience. My only advice would be to ask him point blank if he's had any major problems with any band to sleeve surgeries. He sounds like he's honest about everything, so I don't think he'd want to with hold any information from you.

Good luck!

He did tell me that the main concern on a revision is increase risk of leaks those first few weeks. There isn't alot of published data on leaks for revisions, but he said based on his very limited data, it is probably twice the risk of a "virgin" stomach based on his own practice. We are still talking single digit percent risk. He also told me that revision to bypass has much higher rate of complication - various complications had different risks, but they tended toward the double digit percentages. They told me that they had not lost any sleeve patients (ie no deaths) - revisions included in that ZERO number, so that counts for alot with me.

I really don't think you have much to be worried about. 50 revisions is good and since he is well rounded in the sleeve itself, I'd say he is relatively of good experience. My only advice would be to ask him point blank if he's had any major problems with any band to sleeve surgeries. He sounds like he's honest about everything, so I don't think he'd want to with hold any information from you.

Good luck!

He did tell me that the main concern on a revision is increase risk of leaks those first few weeks. There isn't alot of published data on leaks for revisions, but he said based on his very limited data, it is probably twice the risk of a "virgin" stomach based on his own practice. We are still talking single digit percent risk. He also told me that revision to bypass has much higher rate of complication - various complications had different risks, but they tended toward the double digit percentages. They told me that they had not lost any sleeve patients (ie no deaths) - revisions included in that ZERO number, so that counts for alot with me.

Well that sounds good! Your surgeon sounds great.

Yes, its true band to sleeve revisions risk for leaks does increase by about 2-3%. I was very lucky in my revision that my only complication was some pretty bad nausea (vomited as well but only once) and my pain was pretty bad. Tiffykins did experience a leak with her revision from band to sleeve. But today, she is BETTER than OK!! Really I haven't heard many other revision stories here that were note worthy.

It is my hope that everything will turn out fine, which I'm sure everything will. Like you said, even though the complication risk is elevated, it's still single digits. Its very normal though to feel a little worry while going through this. I was NOT immune to that! But, I was so ready to do it!!!