Dangers of Lap Band Surgery

Laproscopic Gastric Banding, or Lap-Band, is a surgery that fits a rigid plastic band over your stomach to constrict the upper part of the stomach to the size of an egg, limiting the amount of food intake at any one time.

Operative Dangers

• Operative dangers are rare and comparatively mild to gastric bypass. Potential complications include incision infections, inflammation and the possibility of a leak in the band.

Band Slippage

• Directly after surgery, a reaction to anesthesia or diet could result in vomit, which may effect the positioning of the band or induce it to slip.

Port Pain

• Some people experience severe discomfort with the location of the "port," a device underneath the skin that will allow a surgeon to inject saline into the band. This can be moved if discomfort is significant.

Hair Loss

• As with any rapid weight loss, hair loss or thinning can frequently occur. Once weight loss has plateaued, hair will grow back.

Ineffectiveness

• The greatest danger of the lap band surgery is that in patients who are not committed to eating the restricted number of calories (which can induce vomiting in the beginning) and do not go to their doctor for "fills" of saline can end up losing little to no weight.