I've seen and heard a lot but I'm not very clear on this subject. Is everyone discharged after surgery with that drainage catheter? The one that should be there from 4-6 weeks? If so how do they determine who keeps it and who gets it removed at hospital?

mine was taken out two days post op right before I left the hospital. It seems as though it's really surgeon preference.

I had one after surgery. My surgery was actually a revision after I had my lap band removed 4 months earlier. I was told that because the surgery after a band revision is trickier, with more adhesions to deal with, I would most likely be sent home with a JP drain and I was. I had mine for about 8 days, though, not 4 to 6 weeks. That is an extremely long time to have a drain in!

mine was taken out two days post op right before I left the hospital. It seems as though it's really surgeon preference.

Thank you for sharing I guessed it was something like that. How are you feeling?

I had one after surgery. My surgery was actually a revision after I had my lap band removed 4 months earlier. I was told that because the surgery after a band revision is trickier, with more adhesions to deal with, I would most likely be sent home with a JP drain and I was. I had mine for about 8 days, though, not 4 to 6 weeks. That is an extremely long time to have a drain in!

I see , and yes 4-6 weeks seems eternal. Oh well that's information that I am getting from people with YouTube videos and blogs , etc. thank you for sharing I hope you're doing good! Xx

I never had any catheter, drainage or otherwise, that I was aware of. I never had to have anything removed after surgery

The purpose of a drain is to remove Fluid from where it doesn't need to be. Often, the Dr. preference and/or type of surgery dictates this. But also how your body is removing fluid. So, if you have a JP (jackson-pratt) drain, when the fluid accummulation gets less and less, they take the drain out. Mine was in for about 2 weeks. I had Laparoscopic RNY. When I had plastic surgery, I had drains in for various amounts of time. The face; 1 day. Tummy tuck; about a week. Circumfrential body lift, 4 drains and it was about 2 weeks. Best person to ask IF you will even HAVE a drain is your surgeon. Then, how long is dictated by need. Good luck.

Definitely surgeon preference, I had one and it was removed 24 hours after surgery thankfully because it was very uncomfortable for me.

I was a band to RNY revision and had one for 2 days post surgery.