Hi all,

I am evaluating the pros and cons of endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty vs. laproscopic sleeve gastroectomy. This will be my first and hopefully last weight loss procedure. I am currently 5 ft, 2 inches and weigh 212 with a BMI of 39. While I prefer the least invasive procedure possible, my goal is long term success and good health.

Have any of you considered both procedures?

Which one did you choose and why?

Any advice or thoughts to consider?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Welcome to the forums.

In such a case, since they both end with (theoretically) the same result, I would take the Doc's perspective of plusses / minuses as which is easier or more appropriate. All any of us can give you is the perception of a single operation, which we slept through.

Good luck,

Tek

You can see in my signature that I had an ESG back in October 2018 and then had a VSG in March 2020.

My ESG failed, the sutures loosened or came undone totally, there seems to be a fairly high failure rate in Australia as opposed to USA, but then I have noticed the ESG subforum here has become very quiet in the past couple of years and wonder if the failure rate in USA is as high as Australia.

I initially chose ESG as it was less invasive, non-surgical with a quicker recovery. The ESG leaves a bigger stomach volume than VSG, average weight losses are much lower than the surgical option. It is a good choice for lower weight people if the sutures hold and you are compliant 100%, however, the resulting stomach volume does allow for a bit of cheating.

My VSG recovery was pretty good and my reasons for going with ESG, such as less invasive and quick recovery seem moot now. I wish I had gone with the VSG in the first instance, I wasted a lot of time and a lot of money.

Some people have had great success with ESG, but like my VSG surgeon said at the best it can be considered a temporary measure for people who need to lose some weight quickly for health reasons or who need to lose some weight quickly before a surgery.

If in the end you choose a ESG make sure the doctor has done a significant number of ESGs (lack of experience can result in misplaced sutures or sutures that do not hold) and does re-suturing at no charge to you.

On 10/18/2020 at 6:46 PM, Leslie354 said:

Hi all,

I am evaluating the pros and cons of endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty vs. laproscopic sleeve gastroectomy. This will be my first and hopefully last weight loss procedure. I am currently 5 ft, 2 inches and weigh 212 with a BMI of 39. While I prefer the least invasive procedure possible, my goal is long term success and good health.

Have any of you considered both procedures?

Which one did you choose and why?

Any advice or thoughts to consider?

Thanks in advance for your help!

I decided on ESG. My BMI was 31 since I'm 5'5". I started at 205 6 weeks ago. I went with ESG because I couldn't be off work for the extended amount of time VSG took to recover, and frankly, didn't want the invasive procedure and side effects that can come with VSG. For me, it was ESG or nothing. My advise is be realistic. I think you will lose weight a bit slower. I say this as I'm frustrated to have only lost 20 lbs in 6 weeks. I'm now at 185. I keep reminding my self that in 20 years, I wasn't able to get my weight under 190. The second piece of advise is pick your doctor carefully. I almost went with someone in Atlanta. Due to screw ups on their part I ended up having to cancel the night before I was to fly out. I was devastated. It worked how for the best. I ended up going to NC to Dr. McGowan, who has done well over 300 ESG procedures. He's at True You Weight Loss and the offer extensive packages that are on the lower end of the cost spectrum - I checked with LOTS of clinics. What I liked the most was the follow up care and an in house nutritionist.

Thinking of a egs, next week, but have read that some people have had more than one, why would that be please

30 minutes ago, nuttyha said:

Thinking of a egs, next week, but have read that some people have had more than one, why would that be please

The sutures may have loosened, come undone totally or perhaps incorrectly placed so there wasn't sufficient reduction in stomach volume.

I had an ESG, an endoscopy showed that most of my sutures had loosened or come undone totally. I converted to VSG March 2020