Lap-Band Failure Rates

This doesn't make any sense as Inamed/Allergan makes the AP Band. :) The company was once known as Bioeneterics... then became Inamed...and then was bought out by Allergan...but it's ALL the same.

Obtech was known as the Swedish Band but were bought by Ethicon-Endo (Johnson & Johnson)... so once again, same thing. In the States they're using the brand name Realize.

Mid-Band was a French company that we don't hear about here in the States.

The AP is supposed to be an improvement over previous models... but they're all based on the same basic design. I don't think the AP Band has been out long enough for them to honestly say whether or not there are a lot of complications. I hope it's better... but still... I'm a little skeptical.

BTW, Allergan is recruiting people for a clinical trial of the AP Band...so I don't think they really know how this will perform long-term
Clinical Trial: LAP-BAND AP Early Experience Trial (APEX)

I used to think my biggest fear in the world was having to have my band removed.

Then I was unfilled for close to 2 years due to reflux and realized that it didn't HAVE to be the end of the world.

I'm over 7 years out and still keep in touch with long term bandsters who are doing just fine--they're just busy and long past the need or desire to post much online.

I believe that statistic though.

At least with banding though you're either back to square one with your stomach or you have the option to upgrade to a more absorptive surgery.

Nothing in life is for sure, eh? At least we're trying :).

Even though I am not happy with my band lately, I have to agree with another poster that the pars flaccida technique was a likely culprit. Also, earlier on, they were shy on filling bands and didn't know how to do them successfully. So, the success rates would reflect that.

Now... I do think the band is a wonderful weight loss surgery tool, but yes, it does have its faults. If I knew I'd obstruct when my allergies get bad or if I get a cold I'd obstruct or that I'd obstruct when I swim or that I'd obstruct after flying or... etc. I might have reconsidered the band...

I havn't been on the forums in AGES, This coinsides with what the OP sort of said about many bandsters not wishing to hear negatives about the band. I have found other bandsters to be the least supportive with exception to others whom have also sufferd complications and difficulties.

It's as if. If they don't hear it wont happen to them, Ignorance is bliss! The moment those people start understanding that the band can fail it makes them vulnerable to faliour.

I would LOVE a offical statitic of the faliour rate of the band but I still feel its very much a fashionable op to have and untill the trend subsides we really wont get any were. I invisage the band being totally disscountinued in the future as a weight loss procedure because it's just not working on the whole. And for those who it has worked they are wether they acknowledge it or not are at as much risk of faliour & complication as people who experience it very early on.

The risk is wide spread not isolated its more a case of when than if as far as i am concernd from what i have seen over the past five years and three years of them banded.

I've found that most of the negative results are outdated, are used as propaganda for the mini-bypass surgeons, and are often not even properly cited, they just pick and choose which part of the report to use. Not to mention that they don't adequately define the "long term complications" or even what they mean by "long term." I'm suspicious of them, just as I am critical of all the raves over the band.

I have had problems with my band for almost all of the three years I have had it. I started having unbearable pain and vomitting about 2 months after surgery. A little over a year and a half later it was determined to be my gall bladder which I had removed. I thought at that time all my problems were over. WRONG.........even after the gall bladder was removed I continued to throw up when I had fluid in my band. I have been banded since 10-04 and been throwing up since 12-04.
Last January I changed clinics and doctors and I am attempting to have the band removed and have a different surgery. I have gained back 100% of everything I lost with the band and I am now even 30lbs heavier.
I have a surgeon who agrees I need the band removed and agrees another surgery (DS) is a good option for me, but my insurance company is saying that I cannot have the band removed because I can't prove the band causes me to throw up. I have no idea how to go about proving the band makes me throw up. I also need to show that I followed the recomended diet. I am not sure how to prove that either since I have no fluid in my band so no restriction, but still throw up from time to time, and can't have fluid put in my band because it makes me throw-up all the time. I would love any advice anyone has for me. I am getting frustated and worried that I am going to end up with some very serious problems with my stomach because of all the throwing up.
Thanks
Dawn

Hi, I Just Had The Lap Band Procedure Done 3 Weeks Ago But Im Having Alot Of Complications With And And Want To Remove It.. All I Do Is Throw Up Is That Normal Or Is My Body Rejecting It? And On Top Of That I Had To Do The Surgery Again The Second Week After My First Surgery Cuz My Stomach Was Swollen.. Has This Happened To Anyone??

I've had the band for 10 months and have had no physical problems from it but it has not worked either. I can't eat anything. The recommended 4 oz portion is too much to eat, yet, no weight loss. I've gained 3 to 4 pounds. When I posted it, I got one positive response as to what the reason may be and one response with a definite blaming tone toward me. I followed instructions to the T. Am anal about counting every calorie, exercise more than I ever have in my life, but get nowhere. I can't help but believe there are others out there that have had this same problem occur. I have to admit I was concerned about posting the problem because I knew many responses to others with problems were all negative and played the blame game on the person who posted.

I have heard of people having issues like what you are talking about, Disappointed. Not long ago, my loss come to a screeching halt. I had no pain, my restriction remained similar to always. Nothing really changing, but the weight loss stopped. I figured it to be a plateau, and did not stress. Soon though the problem became apparant--I was growing a huge thyroid tumor! I had surgery, and am now waiting for results of my first blood work up post op.

I also know one old (in membership terms not actual age!) bandster who had similar problems all along, and she suffered from Cushings Disease, and no matter how low she took her caloric intake, she simply did not lose. She worked her band, and all to no avail.

I have no doubts there are cases where this happens, and I am so sorry you are one of them!

I hope you do

How wierd, I must have hit something wrong!!

Anyway, I hope you don't get flamed for being honest, and I hope your band journey improves!

Kat

I have heart of similar situations
My problem is no restriction and my band is filled half to its capacity,
I am frustrated
Janet

My question is on the long term of the lap band surgery. Is there ever a point when you no longer have to do the protein thing or drink the 64 oz of water daily. Will I always eat only a half cup of food or suffer the painfull consequences? Is constipation going to be a life long problem? I have about 90 pounds to lose, what's the average time to lose that many pounds--I have severe back problem so heavy exercise is out of the question. Even long distance walking poses a problem. What happens when you reach your weight goal?

Well, likely you WILL be restricted to a small amount of food forever or suffer painful consequences, or one would hope so, the other side of that coin in rebound weight gain. Two and a bit years on, I find this tiresome sometimes, not at home, but out, like sometimes I think "I wish I could take this darn thing out and just eat easily this once". Not that I have many problems, I can eat anything, but I tire of being "aware" of it all the time to avoid blockages and PB, particularly in social situations where I am talking (dangerous for me!).

Other than that, I dont count protein, dont count calories, dont obsess over drinking water and never did. I find maintenance eating IS easier than losing weight eating, I'm much less stringent these days and enjoy a very normal lifestyle, but you do have to think about long term health. You can maintain your weight on crap food if you eat small amounts, and that's not ideal.

As to exercise, well, where there's a will there's a way. I run regularly but do suffer from sciatica, a heavy and aching right leg and chronic heel bursitis on the right side, it really makes life misery sometimes, but I can run strangely enough where I cant walk fast. Its more the day to day drudgery of this condition and not actual pain or discomfort while I am exercising that bothers me and I'm still doing the rounds of various therapies to try to find something that will a) identify what the problem actually is after more than five years and b) relieve the problem. I've had GREAT success with acupuncture lately. But I keep on running because I'd rather run, stay thin and fit and have discomfort (not bad pain usually) than stop running, mimise my symptoms, get fat again and get the symptoms back due to obesity anyway. And every single professional I've seen has advised me to remain active. But its a matter of finding an activity you can tolerate - swimming for example?

I wonder if the study disclosed the failure rate for each surgeon who performed the operation, and if that specific group of surgeons contributed to the high failure rate.

Another thing, how does this failure rate compare to those in Europe and other countries who have been using the band for a longer period of time? Hmmmm....