Lap Band vs. Gastric Bypass: Which Weight Loss Surgery is Right for You?

Lap Band and Gastric Bypass are two very popular bariatric procedures performed under general anesthesia, laparoscopically. These surgical procedures are both safe and effective tools in fighting morbid obesity, they both offer success in long-term weight loss with proper and permanent lifestyle changes.

The adjustable gastric banding, or as people call it the lap band is a procedure where the weight loss surgeon places a silicone device on the upper part of the stomach restricting the amount of food the patient can intake and connects it to an access port which is placed under the abdominal skin so the bariatric surgeon can make adjustments in the future if necessary. The procedure slows down the digestion helping the patient to lose weight slowly and steadily. Adjustable gastric banding is reversible, the silicone band can be removed permanently.

The gastric bypass or roux-en-Y procedure involves the division of the stomach in two a larger part and a small pouch, then the division of the small intestine and its rerouting. A large part of the stomach and a part of the small intestine is bypassed. Gastric bypass reduces the absorption of the nutrients from the food and this way helps the patient to lose weight.

Here are some differences between the adjustable gastric band and gastric bypass:

• Performing the adjustable gastric banding rarely takes up longer then an hour while gastric bypass can last two hours.
• The lap band is an outpatient surgery meaning that the patient can leave the hospital in one day, gastric bypass requires a 2-3 days stay in the hospital.
• Lap band is adjustable and reversible, gastric bypass is non-reversible
• The mortality rate with lap band is 1 in 2000, with the gastric bypass in 1 in 200.
• The weight loss is quicker with gastric bypass, slower with the lap band

After both surgeries permanent lifestyle changes are required in order to achieve long/term success. Dr. Wynn has performed more than 2000 weigh loss procedures. She works with the Christiana Institute of Advanced Surgery.