Lap band is the least invasive of the weight loss surgeries. The procedure is immensely recommended and is one of the most advanced forms of weight loss surgery. A key benefit is that the procedure is totally removable, while other procedures permanently alter the shape and size of the patients' digestive organs. This makes this surgery a good initial weight loss solution to consider.

In this procedure, a silicone band is placed around the upper third portion of the stomach to create a small stomach pouch restricting the quantity of food that can be eaten at a given time. Band adjustments are made in response to the amount of your appetite, the weight you lose, your eating habits and the symptoms you come across. The band also works by slowly allowing the food you eat to be released into the lower part of the stomach for digestion. The Lap Band is attached to a tube that ends with a port attached to the abdominal muscles.

Weight loss surgery is only used once a person meets the required guidelines and earlier has tried several alternative methods of weight loss. The results from this weight loss method vary from patient to patient and the amount of weight the patient loses depends on a number of things. The weight loss will normally be between 50 and 65 percent of excess body weight over the first two years and is usually kept for up to five years.

The Lap Band procedure is performed under anesthesia in a hospital operating room and is minimally invasive, which gives the advantages of reduced pain, length of hospital stay and recuperation period. The procedure is performed laparoscopically, which means the gastric band is placed with thin surgical instruments and 5 small skin incisions. Patients usually go home the next day as a result of the procedure's minimally invasive approach. Follow ups are usually scheduled for 5-7 days after the procedure.

To make the procedure to be a success you have to go along with your surgeon's instructions carefully. Before and after the surgery, patients receive thorough instructions on band management, together with specific advice on diet, nutrition and exercise. Post-surgical diets are different from one doctor to another, but are commonly divided into phases, progressing slowly from liquids to mushy foods to more solid foods. The liquid diet can last up to six weeks after surgery.

The diet guidelines help the new stomach structure to heal completely and the band to stay in the right position. If the patients have any troubles with solid foods and suffer from nausea or vomiting, they should go back to the liquid diet straight away.

Besides the regular risks of most procedures, including bleeding and infection, there are complications specific to Lap Band surgery. These could be nausea, abdominal cramping and sometimes vitamin and mineral deficiencies. For the most part the vitamin and mineral deficiencies problems can be treated with supplements on a daily basis.

This surgery is reversible and have smaller amount of complications than other weight loss surgeries. Once fitted in place, the Lap Band is changeable which gives your surgeon control to achieve weight loss without getting too many objectionable side effects.