I've seen some youtube videos where the person went in for their first fill and the doc said there was some fluid in the band already. How does this happen? What is the fluid? Body fluids? How often does this happen?

The surgeon sometimes puts saline in the band during surgery.

My surgeon told me that they flush the band with saline as a quality check and that it's not always possible to get it all out.

My doctor said that it is manufactured that way. I guess bands are different and some have some saline in them to start with, and some don't. My doctor put in a 14 cc band, and I didn't have my first fill for two months. When I asked him how much he put in, he said two cc's, for a total of 5 cc's. It came with 3 cc's in it. I was blessed that I never had the hunger that some people have between the operation and the first fill. I don't know if that is why, or not.

I have a 10 cc band & didn't find out until my 2nd fill that they had put in 2 cc at the time of surgery. It didn't help my hunger though. I couldn't even tell I had a band until the 3rd fill which brought the cc up to 6.

Some physicians put fill in at the time of surgery intentionally.

I have noticed a theme in those who get a "pre-fill" and those who don't. It seems like Realize bands are usually empty and the Allergan/Inamed bands usually have a small fill. The fluid is saline or something similar, never bodily fluids.

i have lost around 8 pounds since my surgery july 22 2008 and went in about 10 days ago to get my first fill and was told that if i was still feeling restriction i didn't need a fill. i am a little confused as i don't think i had any saline in my band at time of surgery and i am a little frustrated b/c i thought i would lose at a little faster rate. am i being impatient or should i have more weight coming off. i have lost from starting weight in march of 246 to 206 as of right now but most of the weight was lost pre band. I still feel some restriction but feel like i am still hungrier than i should be i have a goal weight of around 150 so still have a long way to go.any suggestions would be appreciated

I had my first fill today and she told me that I had about 1.75 cc in it already. I was surprised, but glad because that would explain a bit about why I haven't been too hungry!

I asked my surgeon if he put anything in my band when he did the surgery. He said no, they just prime it to make sure it is okay.

They put in some saline to displace the air.

The band is not any more constricted than when it's empty, it's just saline instead of air.