hi y'all. i just found out about lap bands dis evening and i started doing my research on it. i have these questions so far:

does the procedure leave large scars on ur belly?

what are the average costs for it?

how long would you have to be in the hospital?

how long till you feel "normal" again? by normal, i mean painless, etc.

thanks for responding. with self-pay, is it possible to finance then?

Hi Sasha;

I was self pay in Ontario, I was 15000, I am not sure if your fees include your fills though there in the US....I am kinda getting the feeling that your fills are a fee on top of the original surgery, but I may be wrong. I was in and out in less than 12 hours and back to norm in a week. 3 tiny holes for me is all there was, after the tummy tuck those will be gone too. Woo hoo! Good luck

POPT

Tracey

thanks for the feedback ladies.

Read, Read, Read this entire site.. LBT is so great... cause all of us were newbies at one time and we've ALL asked these same questions.

1. Insurance or Self Pay

2. Find a surgeon and attend a seminar (even if you go somewhere else)

3. Some people can get the band paid for with as little as a hospital co-pay, some pay upwards of 20K.

Self Pay could be as low as a 10K in Denver to around 8K in Mexico... other euopean countries even offer a better price.

Surgery is typically 45 minutes to and hour.. depending on your situation. Some have it done on an outpatient basis, and some (like me) are required by insurance to stay over night.

I'm having my surgery on a Thursday and returning to work (desk job) the following Monday, however you will be in a healing process for 5 weeks.

Hope this helps.

this really helps. thank you.

i am over-weight but don't look morbidly obese. i'd be described as "chubby". i dont know how my body stores weight but women in my family tend to look much MUCH lighter than we weigh. at a doctor's check up, the nurse started me off 50lbs lighter than what i weight before actually figuring it out. going by my BMI, i am WELL qualified for this procedure. so will doctors be skeptical about me going through with this? it seems it's been helpful to many members of LBT.

i have tried LA Weightloss...they are too expensive and give you a plan they know will not work.

i have tried atkins. it was hard, i got bad headaches, it worked, but the little weight i lost came back quickly, and it came with its entire family.

i have tried starvation diet where i will eat once twice a day, but knew i couldn't live on that forever. so i stopped after about a week.

right now, i'm kinda just working out at the gym and trying to cut down on what i eat. i haven't lost much weight with that either but i'm trying to bepersistent with it. women in my family have a problem with being overweight and usually dont quite lose enough weight to be "thin". we just lose like 5-10 lbs and relapse again. i'm tired of the whole weight tug-of-war.

yes. i am actually excited about this. i have started my research and everything. i actually feel very hopeful.

I was banded 2/23, my port scar is about 4 in. and the others are 1/2 in or smaller, all should fade. I paid $13,500, day surgery, no overnight, the sixth day I was pain free. I hope this helps your research of the lapband.

Rebecca

hi y'all. i just found out about lap bands dis evening and i started doing my research on it. i have these questions so far:

does the procedure leave large scars on ur belly?

what are the average costs for it?

how long would you have to be in the hospital?

how long till you feel "normal" again? by normal, i mean painless, etc.

Sasha, right here in the forum you posted this question in is a thread called Scar Stages, you can go there and see what things look like after the band, here's a link:

http://www.lapbandtalk.com/scar-stages-share-t6117.html

thanks alot FaithMD.

will be back with more questions.

hi y'all. i just found out about lap bands dis evening and i started doing my research on it. i have these questions so far:

does the procedure leave large scars on ur belly?

what are the average costs for it?

how long would you have to be in the hospital?

how long till you feel "normal" again? by normal, i mean painless, etc.

I have 5 scars. 1 big one and 4 small incisions. I was only at the surgery center from 830-430 and got to go home. It took about a month to fully feel myself again. I hope this helps. Oh and my surgery cost 12,900.

thanks a lot missy. that does help.

i'm wanting to get dis done ASAP!! i'm going to meet with an MD dis week.

about how long is the entire process of getting the procedure done, (from talking about it with your MD and actually getting it done) ?

if it's self pay, how soon could you be able to get it done?

if it's insurance, about how soon can you get it done?

My largest scar is 1 inch. The other 4 are less than 1 cm. I am currently using Neosporin Scar Solution bandages to reduce the scarring. My doctor used the surgical glue, so I have no stitch marks, just straight lines. I drove myself home from the hospial the day after the procedure and was feeling 100% a few days later. My surgery cost $8500 in Mexico self-pay, but I did finance. There are several medical financing places, but see if your insurance covers it. It took me less than a month to schedule the procedure in Mexico. There were no "pre-banding" appointments such as psych, etc. that you may have to do in the US. I had to fill in a big packet and then I went in the morning of my surgery for pre-op tests. Keep researching and let us know your decision.

@Wasabubblebutt

in the states.

@socalgal et al

i appreciate the feedback!