What is Gastric Banding?

So what is Gastric Banding?

Gastric banding is a surgical procedure that involves fitting a band around the upper part of your stomach, which will only be recommended as a fnal resort for people who are morbidly obese i.e. people with a BMI of over 40.

Gastric Banding can also be given if others that have a serious health risk, such as diabetes, high blood pressure (hypertension), or heart disease and a BMI of between 30 to 40.

If you are very obese, gastric banding Surgery can be used as a way of helping you to lose weight by controlling the amount of food that you eat.

How does gastric banding work?

Once you have completed the surgery, the gastric band can be adjusted outside the body at any time by a surgeon. This means the gastric band can be adjusted tighter or looser, depending on the amount of food your surgeon wants to restrict you from eating.

Your surgeon can adjust the gastric band tighter by simply adding salt water (saline) into the band. This will slow down the amount of food that can pass through your stomach – meaning your will feel full longer. The opposite direction is to loosen the band, some of the salt water fluid is removed and allows food to pass through quicker to your digestive system. Generally, a gastric band is loose to start and then tightened when you are used to eating less food.

A gastric banding is designed to remain permanently within your stomach, but it can be removed, and in the majority of cases leaves you with no permanent changes to your stomach once removed. The Gastric Banding procedure involves a certain degree of complication, for example there is a risk of infection, and in rare cases, leaking into your stomach may occur.

Hope this helps explain clearly what is gastric banding.

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