The Difference Between Lap Band and Gastric Bypass Surgery

If you are morbidly obese, losing weight becomes more than just a vanity issue... if you don't lose it, you could end up dying. Yet, losing weight when you're severely obese is very challenging. Not only do you have to fight intense hunger pains, but you must also try and exercise a body that is probably out of shape. In fact, just trying to do simple exercises could put some people at greater risk, making the situation even more frustrating.

So, what's a person to do? In some situations, they may have to consider surgical intervention. And currently such interventions would involve Lap-Band or gastric bypass surgery. Both of these procedures try to help a person lose weight by changing their digestion, but the way they do it is completely different.

For instance, the Lap-Band procedure involves surgeons placing a silicone ring around the top portion of the stomach. And, depending on how much weight a person wants to lose, the band is tightened with an additional shot of saline, (which is available from a special port from within the ring).

A gastric bypass works in a different manner. In this procedure, a portion of the stomach gets stapled together. This lessens the amount of food a person can digest. But it doesn't end there. In order for a gastric bypass to be effective, surgeons must reroute the intestines. This lessens the amount of time food even has to digest.

So, now that you know the basics behind Lap-Band and gastric bypass surgery, can you see which one is better? Well, in terms of actual weight loss, gastric bypasses tend to bring results a little faster. However, the procedure carries many more risks than the Lap-Band surgery. That's why approximately 2% of gastric bypass procedures are actually fatal. And while this is still not very high, the fatality rate of the Lap-Band procedure is only 0.5%.

In addition, it doesn't really take much to reverse the Lap-Band procedure. All surgeons have to do is remove the silicone ring. But reversing a gastric bypass takes so much more work. For this reason, unless a patient is undergoing a serious health problem, most who partake in a gastric bypass will keep it for life.

All in all, gastric bypass and lap-band surgery both achieve the same objectives. Yet, the way in which they do these things need to be carefully thought out. Are you ready to change the structure of your digestive system forever? Are you comfortable with a procedure having a 2% mortality rate? If not, you may want to strongly consider Lap-Band surgery.