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REALIZE™ Band Adjustments
Adjustments allow you to get just the right amount of restriction for optimal weight loss.
Once you're fully recovered from the surgery you will be ready for your first adjustment or "fill". Here is what you can expect.
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Preparing for an adjustment
- Always follow your healthcare professional's specific instructions
- Don’t eat any soft or solid foods for at least 2 hours before the adjustment
- Wear clothing that will allow the health care professional to easily access your abdomen
- Locating the REALIZE™ injection port
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The health care professional may use 1 of 2 methods:
- By gently pressing on the area of your abdomen where the port is fastened or
- Using fluoroscopy, which is a special type of video image
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Inserting or removing saline
- The health care professional will then disinfect the site and insert a fine needle through the skin and into the port.
- A topical anesthetic is typically used to minimize any pain associated with the needle stick.
- During a fill, the health care professional will inject about 1/2 to 1 cc of saline into the port
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Checking the band tightness
- You may be asked to drink small amounts of water to ensure you can swallow properly
- You will be asked to follow a liquid or soft diet for 4 to 7 days following an adjustment.
1. Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Data on File
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Minimally Invasive Procedure
During the procedure, surgeons usually use laparoscopic techniques (making tiny incisions rather than a large incision and inserting long-shafted instruments through “ports”), to wrap the REALIZE™ around the patient’s stomach. Since there is no stomach cutting, stapling, or gastrointestinal re-routing involved in the gastric banding procedure, it is considered the safest, least invasive, and least traumatic of all weight-loss surgeries. If for any reason the gastric band needs to be removed, the stomach generally returns to its original form. |
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