The hospital treatment will last three or four days. You will be admitted to the clinic around 4pm on the day before your operation. Some of your tests are done after you have seen the surgeon and anaesthetist. In general, you will leave the clinic two days after the operation. Patients tend to make a quick recovery and most people need between one and three weeks off work.

The operation has a lot of advantages thanks to coelioscopy (laparoscopic surgery) but still carries
the small risk of general anaesthesia.
Coelioscopy was invented in France 20 years ago and consists in operating without leaving a big
scar, usually ugly and which often results in muscle rupture or infection in fat patients and hurts
after the operation. This new method considerably reduces the length of hospital stay and shortens
your time off work.

During the operation, the tiny instruments are guided by means of a mini camera inserted into the abdomen. The surgeon can see the inside of the abdomen on a TV screen. Usually, only 4 or 5 small incisions of 0,5 to 1 cm are necessary. A 5th, slightly larger, incision is used to install the port which
is used to adjust the band at a later date.

- The operation lasts about one or two hours
- You wake up almost immediately
- The post operational pain is minimal and does not last
- In the evening following the operation the patient can drink some liquid under the supervision of the nursing staff. This becomes more frequent as your recover during your short hospital stay.