LAP BAND QUESTIONS

[ObeseinNewyork]

HELLO EVERYONE!

I DON'T KNOW MUCH ABOUT THE LAPBAND SYSTEM AND I WAS WONDERING IF YOU GUYS CAN EDUCATE ME A LITTLE ABOUT IT. I HAVE BEEN OVERWEIGHT SINCE ABOUT AGE 12... I REMEMBER AS A CHILD MY MOM USED TO GIVE ME ALL KINDS OF APPETITE STIMULATORS BECAUSE I WAS SOO THIN AND NOW I AM VERY OBESE I AM 25YEARS OLD 5'3 275 POUNDS.. (

MY QUESTIONS ARE THE FOLLOWING:

1. HOW BIG IS THE SCAR?

2. HOW LONG DO I HAVE TO WAIT TO HAVE CHILDREN

3. IS THE PORT INSIDE OF YOUR BODY OR OUTSIDE LIKE A G-TUBE?

4. HOW ARE FILLS PERFORMED?

IF ANYONE CAN TELL ME ABOUT THEIR EXPERIENCE I WOULD BE VERY GRATEFUL

THANKS AND GOOD LUCK TO YOU ALL!

[FurEllie]

HELLO EVERYONE!

I DON'T KNOW MUCH ABOUT THE LAPBAND SYSTEM AND I WAS WONDERING IF YOU GUYS CAN EDUCATE ME A LITTLE ABOUT IT. I HAVE BEEN OVERWEIGHT SINCE ABOUT AGE 12... I REMEMBER AS A CHILD MY MOM USED TO GIVE ME ALL KINDS OF APPETITE STIMULATORS BECAUSE I WAS SOO THIN AND NOW I AM VERY OBESE I AM 25YEARS OLD 5'3 275 POUNDS.. (

MY QUESTIONS ARE THE FOLLOWING:

1. HOW BIG IS THE SCAR?

2. HOW LONG DO I HAVE TO WAIT TO HAVE CHILDREN

3. IS THE PORT INSIDE OF YOUR BODY OR OUTSIDE LIKE A G-TUBE?

4. HOW ARE FILLS PERFORMED?

IF ANYONE CAN TELL ME ABOUT THEIR EXPERIENCE I WOULD BE VERY GRATEFUL

THANKS AND GOOD LUCK TO YOU ALL!

1. There are 4 (or 5) teeny tiny scars. I think the largest is about 3/4 of an inch.

2. Don't know about this

3. Inside

4. The syringe is inserted through the port and the fill put in. The better fill folks use fluoroscopic methods. In 4 fills (2 in TJ, 2 at Fillcentersusa) they hit the port the first time!

Please feel free to ask about anything else and good luck

[bigjohn]

Hi everyone,

Newbie here, couldn’t think of a screen name that wasn't already taken...so went with Big John for my 6'1" frame, that’s carrying a very taxing 340 lbs at my banding just yesterday.

So, hopefully, Big John can get a name change back to "John" or "Little John" sometime over the next 12-18 months :-?

Just chiming in here for the question on scarring, and how big the incisions are, and with mine less than 24 hours old, still with stitches and butterfly bandages and the like...I thought would be a worse case scenario for anyone to see how it looks at its "worse" only to get nearly invisible from 3 feet away after a few months.

Just for your edification, I doctored up my picture here, to show the actual incision size under the band aids and at the port.

Great Blog you have going here moderators, keep up the good work!

John

1 day post-op bandages and scars

[snowbird]

I was banded 3 months ago. My largest scar is a red line about an inch long; the other scars are not much more than red dots. They are all visible and if I went around with my belly hanging out, you would know I had surgery, but they aren't horrible. I doubt if you would even think the smaller ones are incision scars; they just look like red dots.