Hi all, my surgery is in less than 2 weeks and my doctor gave me the option to decide between the lap band and the realize band. I'm really stuck between the two. Any advice based on experience? Also, I feel like the lap band's port looked like it would stick out more, which I have read on some of the other boards...It seems like the realize band is flatter which does make me lean more towards realize...so for the realize banders- do you feel/see your port right away sticking out? How about after you've lost the majority of your weight? Thanks in advance...

I got my Realize band in 10/08. I can only feel my port when I lay down. So far, I've lost 45 lbs and haven't noticed a difference. My husband has the Lapband and has lost 80 lbs so far - same thing, we can't tell a difference.

My surgeon says he prefers the realize port because the surface are is a little larger and makes it easier for him to access.

Good Luck!

Thanks...have you noticed any differences in your realize band compared with your husband's lap band like the way food goes down, getting stuck, etc? I ask because I'm trying to decide between the two and I wonder if I'm overthinking this because they may just be so similar....

We really don't see any difference. I'm postop 7 months and he's almost 2 years. At 7 months for my husband, he'd lost more weight than I have, but he's also a lot bigger than I am. Percentage wise, we have about the same fill, but Chris' is tighter - because his actual stomach is larger than mine. Chris went 6 months without a fill.

I guess the only real difference is I get adjusted 0.5-1.0 cc's at a time and he gets 0.1-0.25 at a time. Makes no difference in the weight loss.

As for making my decision, I went with the one my surgeon felt most comfortable.