Want to share this little tidbit I learned yesterday....it could make a diference in how our plastic surgery recovey goes!.

I was in my lapband doctor's office having having my last pre-op tests in preparation for my panniculectomy that is coming up Friday. He also does my fills. Before I left he told me to come back to the fill room.....he completely emptied my band!!! I was shocked! But he said that you never want to have abdominal surgery with a tight band......that afterward if you should get food stuck or have a PB or vomiting that you could damage your stitches and work that is healing in the abdomen. I hadn't thought of that!! He said for me to come back in a couple of weeks and he'd fill me up again.

Most plastic surgeons would probably never think of it either....they aren't familiar with the daily life of a lapbander and some of the 'issues' we have. I plan to share that info with my PS....he's beginning to see a number of LB's in his practice and they need to know this.

Good Luck with the PS!!

I'm finding all kinds of sagging I want taken care of. I've started saving now!!!!!!!!

thanks for the tip......... ONCE again I've learned something from reading this board!

HIYA huntress!

Thanks for the information.

great info! good luck friday!

That's standard for anyone having surgery for a couple reasons, one being that surgery causes a hormone that produces inflammation and you don't want your stoma swelling up.

Neither my doc nor my PS wanted me unfilled for my TT/BL. I was tighter than normal for about 5 days post-op, but as liquids went down fine, I'm glad I chose to stay filled. It's a combination of what your doctor recommends and how you feel about it. I had been at the same fill level for over a year and really didn't want to mess with a good thing and it was the right thing for me. Just wanted people to know that, like most things with the band, different docs have different views on this too.

Good luck with your surgery Gayle!

I wasn't totally unfilled either. Can't say it affected me in any negative way.