I know three people who have done the surgery. One kept the weight off, lost about 150 lbs. and is still slim after several years. He had to have severla follow-up surgeries which were basically plastic surgery to remove A LOT of excess flab, which was the result of the suidden drastic weight loss, that the body has no chance to adjust to gradually as with a normal diet for weight loss.
The other two gained back most of their lost weight, and one ended up in emergency surgery because he continued to eat as he did before, and somthing ruptured. Prior to that, he threw up after every meal.
The lap-band can be lifesaving for certain types of people, but make no mistake, this is MAJOR surgery, attendant with all the risks that come with major surgery, i.e. anesthesia reaction, blood clots, emboli,aspiration, heart attack and stroke. Because some of these risks are present in the morbidly obese, the risks may be outweighed by the benefits. I had abdominal surgery last year to remove a giant polyp in my stomach, and that recuperation was not a walk in the park. I cannot imagine anyone going into bariatric surgery lightly. It takes great motivation, and the dertermination to follow doctor’s order IMPLICITLY.
And no reputable doc would ever do such a surgery on someone who was only a size 6 or 8 (when did that become pejorative?). Come on!