There are many, many sides to this and many, many consequences.
On this forum we have ballooners, wrappers, banders, sleevers and bypassers.
We have members that have revised from all of the above, for a variety of reasons and those that have had problems and continue to do without revising. Also, we have many, many successful members - long term ones too.
If your thinking about the balloon, consider what you will do when its removed to maintain your weight loss. They are usually only in place for six months.
If your thinking of a band, think aftercare. Fills etc should be part of this so no extra cost there. The band is a restrictive only procedure but can be converted and/or is reversible. There can be complications (slippage, wrong position, port problems etc and some more serious as in marcus's case), patients can also fail to lose enough weight, either by not sticking to a healthy eating regime or that restriction alone does not work for them.
Sleeve is also restrictive only. It can be converted to a bypass to achieve greater loss, ie if the patient hasn't lost enough. We have had members who have had problems with leaks and strictures. Strictures are fairly easy to resolve, leaks not so much. Both thankfully are rare. We have had a number of members convert to bypass and a number who have regained almost all of their weight. Again, both rare and with the regains pushing the boundaries and stretching the new smaller stomach have been a factor.
The bypass is restrictive AND you physically do not absorb 100% of what you eat. With the bypass, think vitamins. Think also that the bypass seems to have a window of opportunity, ie it can be harder to lose/maintain after a certain period. Conversley we have had some memebers who lose too much and cannot maintain a healthy weight. Some (not many at all) members have had a reversal of sorts because of the excess weight loss. Some, have had a revision to decrease the pouch size, due to dilation or have had a band added or a fobi ring.
The wrap is favoured abroad although there are some surgeons in the UK that do them. We have a few members who have done really well and are maintaining. We have had members who have gone abroad and when they needed help etc were turned away, we have had members who changed their minds and were reversed more or less straight away. We have members who have had surgery but it has made no difference and they have not lost weight and sought a revision.
If your having any of the above, consider which will be best for you and discuss this with your surgeon.
There are things that can wrong, there is the chance that you may not lose the weight you want to.
Go into this with an open mind, don't just go for the option you can afford. Save for the one you should have. Research, research, research.
Good luck xx
