Hi All,

Today was my first consult and I left feeling a little confused. The doc asked me why I wanted to do Lap Band compared to Gastric Bypass. I told him the idea of having my stomach cut scares me, that I feel like I could do well with the band and I'm thinking I'm 24 and feel like I really could do well.

I then mentioned another reason was because I wanted to lose slowly and not have all the extra skin. He told me that wasn't a reason to choose because no matter what I will have extra skin. I really feel like he was pushing bypass and now I am confused as what to do. What were your reasons?

This forum is great...I love talking to people who have actually had the surgery before. I am atleast enrolled in the program now, after paying $750!!!

I have a little experience with excess skin, lap band and RNY.

I was always on the heavy side since childhood and when I was 19 I lost over 100 lbs fairly quickly with the help of drugs that you could get very easily back then but were not done through a prescription.

I then gained it back over the course of a year and then the following year lost it again. During those two weight losses I had no extra skin.

I then put on about 25lbs became pregnant and had a 9lb11oz baby and stretched out my stomach, gained some weight over a 3 year period and had a 10+lb baby and stretched out my stomach a lot more. So basically even though I lost weight quickly the first two times I had no extra skin and didn't until I had to the two babies.

I don't know if it's a quick weight gain then loss that creates the skin, genetics or what but I don't think you can say that with lap band you'll have no extra skin and with RNY you will.

I will always have extra skin no matter what. My daughter was a quick gainer of weight prior to her RNY. I think she may have put on an extra 60 lbs fairly quickly at one time so since her surgery she's having extra skin issues and is in her 20s.

So maybe it's a quick gain that does it not necessarily a quick loss that guarantees the extra skin or both. Just a thought.

It does take more time to recover from RNY as I have been there since my daughter's surgery this past May. There are many more things you have to take in order to supplement your diet basically for the rest of your life. It works, I've heard people can gain back weight after a period of time but not as much as the had lost in the beginning.

I personally did have a difficult time letting my daughter go through this as she's my flesh and blood and no one wants their child to go through something this traumatic but then I knew if she didn't she'd be miserable and she chose this surgery over the lap band as she felt it had a better rate of success. I don't know if my issues had that much to do with it as she's a pretty smart cookie and makes up her own mind. Nancy:smile:

Hi All,

Today was my first consult and I left feeling a little confused. The doc asked me why I wanted to do Lap Band compared to Gastric Bypass. I told him the idea of having my stomach cut scares me, that I feel like I could do well with the band and I'm thinking I'm 24 and feel like I really could do well.

I then mentioned another reason was because I wanted to lose slowly and not have all the extra skin. He told me that wasn't a reason to choose because no matter what I will have extra skin. I really feel like he was pushing bypass and now I am confused as what to do. What were your reasons?

ok, bear in mind, I'm a nurse, and I tend to be a bit more graphic in my descriptions, so fair warning!

My doc asked me, and I gave a similar answer. That wasn't a good enough answer, so I said pretty much word for word, "The idea of slicing and dicing my digestive tract, and then reassemble it in the wrong order on purpose just seems wrong, and frankly has never appealed to me:scared2:." I think the doc was surprised I put it that way, but that was the end of that line of questioning!

I've heard alot of patients that have been challenged on whether they know why they are choosing lapband and being asked to consider GB instead but if you stand up for what you want, they are pretty good at then working toward that decision. On the skin issue, for some of us, we have alot to lose and have been overweight so much of our lives that it is true that no matter how slowly I lose, I will have excess skin and I've just accepted that I will be considering plastic surgery for a tummy tuck when I get to goal or close to it as my reward for making such a big positive change in my life losing the weight.

If you have less weight to lose, and have been overweight for less time than some of us, you are right that if you are young, your skin has more elasticity and you may not have the same degree of problem as others.

I haven't had my first consult yet, having that this Friday! But I'm choosing the band over GB, because of the excess skin issue and I don't want my stomach and intestines cut. Also, I like the fact the the band is a tool to help with my weight loss and can be removed.