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Gastric Band Information
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by David Keogh, July 17th, 2012
One of the most queried aspects of our gastric band program seems to be the day of surgery. I am always asked the same questions “Will I be awake? How long does the surgery last? Do I get cut open? Will I be in pain? When can I get out of bed again? How long do I stay off work? Do I need to stay overnight?” So here are your answers. The patient remains under general anaesthetic for the entire duration of the surgical procedure, meaning they will be asleep for the whole thing. From the time the patient is asleep, the surgery itself only lasts around 35 minutes. One of the advantages about gastric band surgery is that it is minimally invasive. The entire surgery is completed laparoscopically (keyhole surgery), which means you will only be left with a couple of very small scars across the upper part of your stomach. Generally, the only point of pain after the surgery is from the small key holes which we have operated through, however, pain killers which we give to our patients seem to stop this quite fast. You will be out of your bed usually within an hour of waking up after your surgery. We advise that all patients take 1 week away from work after surgery, however, this largely depends on the persons job. Ultimately it is up to the patient when they feel fit enough to return to work. Some of our patients have returned to work within 2-3 days. We do provide a medical certificate for one week after surgery if needed. We advise all of our patients to stay overnight following their surgery for observation. The patient is then discharged the following morning.
So there you have it, the basics of the day of gastric band surgery!
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