Does anyone know the difference???? Which one is better???:thumbup:

They're made by different manufacturers. I believe the Realize band is a little wider and doesn't hold as much saline as the Lap Band. As for preference, I depends on which one your doctor uses. Mine is also a Lap Band instructor and has done lots of procedures and that's the band he uses. Perhaps someone who has the Realize band can chime in here.

Thanks a bunch.......my doctor uses lapband, just making sure I wasn't missing anything lol.

My doctor uses both and have said neither one is better than the other and it is just like choosing coke or pepsi, or mcdonalds or burger king.

There are small differences in the design but they both work the same way.

My surgeon said they were hoping when the relize band came out that it would cause a price war between the two and they would start to lower prices so that self pay would cost less but that has not happened.

See if you can find a surgeon that can show you both of them so you can see the difference.

From what I remember the realize band is one continous pillow where the lap band has 5 to 7 pillows. The port on the realize band is flatter. The band on the lap band can be unlocked where the realize band locks in place and does not unlock. (but the surgeon did say there is a way to unlock it if really needed)

That is pretty much all the differences I can remember between the two. I really like the pillows in the lapband that is why I ultimately went with that, but I like the flatter port in the realize band.

I just had the idea if there is a leak if it is just one pillow it will leak a lot faster than the pillows.

HTH!!!

I have the Realize C band (the new realize band). This band is actually bigger (as far as the amount of saline it can hold) than the lapband. Here is a link to the Realize C information:

REALIZE

Here is a link to a tanle which compares lapband and Realize band (the old Realize band, not Realize C)

Compare Adjustable Gastric Bands - LAP-BAND vs. REALIZE Band

My Doc tells me that the Realize band, has perfected some of the problems of the original Lap band......... like slippage of the band and size of the band itself:thumbup: