Can the lap band be removed?

This is a common question though among people who are looking at lap band.  What if I don't want it anymore?  What if I have health complications because of it?

Why it should not be removed.

The whole point of the lap band is to reduce the size of the stomach so less food is eaten at any meal thus meaning fewer calories are consumed overall.  If the the lap band is removed, the stomach will go back to it's original size.  So your portion size will creep up over time and you will start to gain weight, possibly more than you weighed before.  The whole reason you got the lap band was to lose weight, so unless your doctor determines there is a problem there really isn't any reason to remove the band.

Why the lap band would be removed.

In case of your safety.  If a doctor were to determine there was a health risk to you the band can be removed.  Because this is not a surgery where part of the stomach is removed, your stomach would be the same after the lap band was removed as it was before it was put in place.  That truly is one of the nice features about lap band.  If you had one of the other weight loss surgeries and ran into complications, it's much more difficult to undo.

In some cases there is a horror story to go along with the removal, but if failures are caught in time the prognosis is good.