am i right in thinking the only difference betwen the allergen band and the realize is the way its sutured in there? is there any other difference?

seriously there is enough of " My surgery is better than your surgery nanny nanny boo boo " going on between Lap Band vs Gatric vs DS vs every other type of WlS out there , does there REALLY have to be ' MY band is better than YOUR band ? Give me a break !!!

Some of these posts remind me of high school " your uglier than she is , your fat and im not , I know you are but what am I , I LOST MORE THAN YOU ha ha ha !! :tt2:"

Come on , A band is a band is a band. We ALL got one to accomplish ONE thing to lose weight and stay around a little longer.

Some people have a choice what they get some do not .

IT DOES NOT MATTER !!

Stop the NANNER NANNER I got a better one than you . Because got news for all your realize band patients and anyone else who has the "latest and greatest " your band wont be the latest and greatest for long. SOON there WILL Be another band come along ! SO Just let it be what it is ,A BAND !!!

:tt2:

Who said anyone's surgery was better than anyone else's? Maybe you misunderstood my post. You sound so angry. Someone asked about the Realize band and I just wrote what I knew about it. Why did that upset you?

I was not speaking about YOUR Post ,, did i say YOUR post ?

I said SOME of these posts sound that way . I do get tired of the mine is better than yours crap that goes on in the WLS "world" . I was not speaking of any post in particular !! I am not mad about anything . :tt2:

Mindy

Isuza needs to seriously get laid.

Please refrain from personal insults.

Sorry everybody. Now I'm being rude. How is that any better, right? Dispensa...

There are major differences:

This makes the Realize Band:

1) highly susceptible to crease-fold failure and erosion

2) impossible to get an even distribution of fluid so your entire stomach is fitted to the band

3) its only has one fluid reservoir, the LapBand AP has 7 mini reservoirs with indentations in between so it doesn't crease on itself and erode.

$) It comes in 2 fill volumes 10 and 14cc depending on the patients anatomy. It says clearly in the Realize Band directions NOT to fill it past 9cc or it can erode or break. The LapBands are virtually unbreakable. The Realize Band only comes in 1 size and will burst if you overfill it.

5) When Allergan did a study which was similar in design and technique to The Realize Band - their outcome was 62% excess weight loss at 36 months, the Realize had 43%

The Realize band is not even as advanced as Allergans first generation band which came out 7 years ago. Allergan is already on their third generation band. The Allergan band is also available with a low profile port as well. Their port applicator is not a great device, re-operation rates increased 15% when that item was introduced into the study. The doctors overseas don't even use or stitch on top of it because unless they hit it at the perfect angle, the ports don't stay in place.

If you look at both bands inflated you will see what I mean. There is a reason why J&J does not have one picture on their website showing the band inflated - it is abnormally shaped and creases

Hi, so even though Allergan band has much higher percentage of excess weight loss (62%) at 3 years, it also has a much higher re-operation rate (15%) than realize band because its applicator is not a great device? Do you know what is the re-operation rate for the realize band? Thanks.

I'm trying to decide which band to pick right now as I am schedule to do the banding surgery on 03/09/2009.

I went to two of the top surgeons in Dallas, Texas - Dr. Kuhn who may be the number one ONLY uses the Realize Band now and Dr. Cribbins who is my doctor gave me the choice but told me he is leaning more to the Realize Band now than the Allergan band. I have the Realize band and love it and have not heard any of the bad things mentioned in the response I received today from EmmaWang. I think they are both good just personal choice. I will check with my doctor to confirm what she says about the Realize band is true before I believe it. I have had no issues with the Realize Band at all and am down 22 lbs since my surgery in June. Thanks.

Sorry I meant Izusa not EmmaWang reply about Realize - it does seem like she is trying to talk people out of the Realize Band which is a great band - I did lots of research and chose the Realize band and have been very happy with it. I held both in my hands and spent hours on the internet learning about both. You make your own decision after doing your own research and talking to your doctor - don't let anyone make the decision for you.

AMEN - why is she adamantly against Realize unless there is another issue going on. I took the information she gave printed it off took it to my doctor and he said he had never seen anyone with these issues - has seen no erosion and only a few cases of slippage and he has done thousands of these surgeries. It is puzzling.

I have seen a lot of scars also and my scar from the Realize band is not bigger than the Lap Band scar - I would say it is the same but not bigger and since the Realize Band has a flatter port does not stick out as far as the other - I don't understand how some people get so worked up over something that is obviously just a personal choice - does Isuza think none of us checked any of this out before letting a doctor put some foreign object in our bodies? "Thou protesteth too much". There is something else going on here.

Hmmm. I think Isuza has an ax to grind... Maybe just another name for a person who is no longer welcome on LBT because of unfounded and inflammatory posts? I did my research, too. My doctor originally said it was my choice - no particular recommendation of either band over the other one. But when it came time to make the decision, she was leaning strongly to Realize because of her experience with the band and the patients who were having success with it. I've had mine since early December, losing at an acceptable rate, NO problems with any foods, 5cc so far with reasonable restriction - I am happy with it.

I have absolutely no problem with either of these bands. Both of them do the job if the patient follows the guidelines provided by the companies and the doctors. There can be risks or problems with both of them, too. That is the nature of any medical procedure. Do your research - find a surgeon who has a good reputation/track record, talks to you and gives you guidance through the long term process - and make your decision based on the facts learned through your research and your doctor's recommendation.

Isuza - with all his/her hyperbole - is doing damage to Allergan a lot more than J&J. That is not fair to either company.

Doctors' decide which band size is implanted based on your anatomy. My daughter received a realize band two months ago and felt restriction right away. She lost 36 pounds. She never had it filled. All of a sudden she could not keep anything down. This lasted for two weeks, one of which she was in the hospital. She felt no pain. I made her ask for her gall bladder to be checked. Her gall bladder was bad and she had it removed. The doctor checked her band and found it had eroded into her stomach. She also had an infection. Her band was removed. Could her doctor have made a mistake by giving her a small size band instead of a large size band? This has been hard on her three small children since she is a single mother. Her doctor is a pro at a well known hospital. I would appreciate any information.

Thanks,

A Very Tired Grammy

Doctors' decide which band size is implanted based on your anatomy. My daughter received a realize band two months ago and felt restriction right away. She lost 36 pounds. She never had it filled. All of a sudden she could not keep anything down. This lasted for two weeks, one of which she was in the hospital. She felt no pain. I made her ask for her gall bladder to be checked. Her gall bladder was bad and she had it removed. The doctor checked her band and found it had eroded into her stomach. She also had an infection. Her band was removed. Could her doctor have made a mistake by giving her a small size band instead of a large size band? This has been hard on her three small children since she is a single mother. Her doctor is a pro at a well known hospital. I would appreciate any information.

Thanks,

A Very Tired Grammy

No one knows what causes erosion. It's something that "just happens" to a small percentage of people. If a doctor has a higher than average erosion rate, then maybe it's something about his technique, but if he doesn't, then it's just one of those things.