Many prospective patients look on the Internet for information about gastric bands before contacting us in order to give themselves a basic understanding of the procedure and what they might expect from it. There’s no doubt the Internet is great for acquiring this basic level of understanding. When I speak to patients however, I find there are some important considerations they are not aware of and wouldn’t have thought to ask about. Often these are important for weight loss success. I’ve picked out just 3 examples and shown them below as illustrations of the ways in which there are differences in weight loss surgery provision – if only you knew about them. You should ask:
Q1. What is the surgeon’s band slippage rate?
Answer: The average slippage rate in the UK is 4-5% but we have heard of some surgeons with rates far higher than this. At Healthier Weight our slippage rate is 1.2%. This is important because a slipped band can cause pain, delay your weight loss and cost you money to put right.
Q2. Where will the access port be placed?
Answer: When you are successful in losing weight, you will lose inches from all over your body. We see a lot of patients from other centres who have had their ports placed so high (up on the chest for example) that when weight is lost the port protrudes. This can be uncomfortable and does not give a good cosmetic result. It’s for this reason that when you have a gastric band with Professor Franco Favretti, we place our ports low and to the side.
Q3. Who will do my band adjustments and how many do they do each week?
Answer: Adjusting bands is a skill. The more you do, the better you get. Would you be comfortable having someone who only does the occasional gastric band adjustment injecting your band? I and my nurses hold several clinics every week of the year and are recognised experts in band aftercare. It’s for this reason we were selected to train the NHS.
Hopefully I’ve been able to shine a light on some important issues of which you might not have been aware. Attention to detail makes such a difference.
Dr David Ashton MD PhD
