The patient can be discharged within one to three days, and the gastric sleeve recovery time to fully get back on your feet is 3 to 4 weeks in general. Although you can be ready to head start with your everyday activities, you might be advised to refrain from heavy lifting and strenuous exercise.
With over 3,90,000 procedures performed yearly, you can project the rising popularity of the gastric sleeve, also known as sleeve gastrectomy. You must be required to attend all follow-up appointments and follow up on their instruction.
Recovery From Gastric Sleeve: Overview
You must take 2 to 3 weeks off work for adequate gastric sleeve recovery time. To understand your time requirement for the recovery from gastric sleeve, refer to the following table that gives you clear insights.
| Sr. No. | Timeline | Recovery Time/ Period |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hospital stay | 1 to 3 Days |
| 2 | Return to work | 2 to 4 Weeks |
| 3 | Full recovery | 6 to 8 Weeks |
| 4 | Exercise | 4 to 6 Weeks |
| 5 | Weight Loss | 6 to 8 Weeks |
As a patient, you are required to stay in the Hospital for 1 to 3 Days after the surgery has been performed or done. Gastric sleeve surgery is a laparoscopic procedure that generally requires only 1 to 2 hours to operate or perform on the patients.
The whole or complete recovery from gastric sleeve, also called vertical sleeve gastrectomy (VSG), may require around 2 mon this or less than 60 days to recover effectively.
The post-surgery period, you might have to consider the diet and nutrition along with the pain management, low lift exercise and follow-up sessions prescribed by your doctor, and may monitored by your guardian.
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Gastric Sleeve Surgery Recovery Time
The gastric sleeve surgery recovery times vary based on individual circumstances and the patient’s medical condition. This procedure is a type of bariatric surgery involving the removal of a significant portion of the stomach by reducing the size while aiming to lose weight.
This surgery promotes a less invasive way to lose weight by creating a smaller banana-shaped stomach and limiting food intake by enhancing the feeling of fullness. Due to the less invasive nature of the surgery, the recovery from gastric sleeve or (other names) vertical sleeve gastrectomy, VSG recovery is comparatively speedy and naturally augmented with the prescribed doctor’s instructions.
Suppose you have a body mass index (BMI) of 40 or higher or a BMI of 35-39.9 with obesity-related health problems such as diabetes, sleep apnea, or high blood pressure. In that case, you are eligible for sleeve gastrectomy surgery and get recovery from gastric sleeve.
Gastric sleeve is considered one of the most successful weight loss procedures, with a success rate of almost 60 to 70% with significant and sustainable weight loss. The patient can expect this weight loss within 12 to 18 months after the surgery.
Many obesity-related health conditions have been resolved through Gastric sleeve surgery, like type 2 diabetes, sleep apnea, joint pain, and high blood pressure. A 50 to 70% improvement in health conditions has been noticed through gastric sleeve surgery.
Patients must attend regular follow-up appointments with their healthcare provider to monitor their health conditions, profession after surgery, recovery time for gastric sleeve, the effect of results, and address any concerns or complications that may arise after the successful operation.
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What to Expect After Gastric Sleeve Surgery?
Gastric surgery helps reduce about 80% of the stomach size resulting in significant weight loss; however, after the procedure has been operated on, you might have to undergo several challenges that might hook you up with what to expect after gastric sleeve surgery.
During the stages of recovery after gastric sleeve, the patient may experience various physical and emotional changes since they must adapt to their new lifestyle and diet cycle. The following are specific expected challenges during recovery after gastric sleeve.
- Pain and Discomfort
- Dietary changes
- Weight loss
- Increased energy
- Emotional changes
- Follow-up appointments
- Possible complications
You must learn about your pain management and dietary progression during your sleeve gastrectomy recovery since these are some most important factors playing a crucial role in your recovery from gastric sleeve.
According to the Journal Reference: Gagner M, Deitel M, Kalberer TL, Erickson AL, Crosby RD. The Second International Consensus Summit for Sleeve Gastrectomy, the following contribution towards the gastric sleeve research has made the important remarks about the pain management.
During the gastric sleeve recovery time, some patients might experience pain and discomfort, especially around the incision site. A study has showcased the data on pain after surgery, accounting for almost 90% of the patients experiencing some pain.
- 39% of Patients reported the Mild Pain
- 38% of Patients reported the Moderate Pain
- 13% of Patients reported the Severe Pain
Around 64% of patients have experienced feelings of pain and discomfort during the first week right after the surgery. However, with pain medication, post-operative pain is well managed, and most patients can revive their normal activities within 2 to 4 weeks after the surgery.
Following are certain types of pain you may experience after gastric surgery.
- Incision Pain
- Gas Pain
- Abdominal Pain
- Shoulder Pain
- Muscle Pain
With your diet plan, you can prescribe a professional dietician to prepare your daily intake with different types of food that you can include in your daily diet chart. However, you can also head start with clear liquids and gradually expand your intake to solid foods.
While this gastric sleeve is generally considered safe due to its less invasive methods of treatment; there are always chances of complications such as bleeding, infection, or blood clots; However, if you get enough gastric sleeve surgery recovery time, you must consider the post-surgery guidelines.
The following table might give you a clear idea regarding what to expect after gastric sleeve surgery.
| Sr. No. | Expected Complications | Probability Rate |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mortality rate | 0 to 1% |
| 2 | Bleeding | 1 to 2% |
| 3 | Infection | 0 to 1% |
| 4 | Blood clots | 1 to 2% |
| 5 | Stricture | 1 to 2% |
| 6 | Sleeve Leak | 1 to 2% |
| 7 | Acid reflux | 10 to 20% |
| 8 | Nutritional deficiencies | 5 to 10% |
Factors Influencing Sleeve Gastrectomy Recovery
Individual health conditions vary from person to person, and so does the recovery time for gastric sleeve surgery. However, multiple factors influence the time of the recovery process; we can discuss those factors as given below.
- Overall Health Conditions
- Patients having comorbidity or pre-existing medical conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, and other health issues might result in more difficulty in recovery.
- Age
- Age matters in counting how long it takes to recover from the gastric sleeve. Older patients may take longer in sleeve surgery recovery due to decreased physical efficiency, immunity, and endurance.
- Weight
- If you are overweight, you might have a high risk of complications considering the techniques, amount of tissues removed, and length during the surgical procedure will affect your gastric sleeve recovery time.
- Pain Management
- Right after the surgery, you may require to undergo certain therapy sessions to manage your pain and learning to control it, this might significantly help you to have the recovery time for gastric sleeve.
- Acitivity Level
- The patients who are able to regain their normal body functioning or move around after the surgery may get the faster recovery from gastric sleeve in comparison to those who remain stagnated.
- Diet and Nutrition
- You must follow the proper diet and nutritional supplements prescribed by your surgeon or specialized dietician after your surgery; diet plays a crucial role in the recovery time for gastric sleeve surgery.
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How Long is Recovery from Gastric Sleeve?
Every patients sleeve gastrectomy recovery is unique, although we can still draw a projection for the timeline but, we must recognize that, in general, it require up to 6 to 8 weeks (42 to 56 days) to get on your feet back after surgery has done.
After the gastric sleeve surgery, which is also sometimes knowns as vertical sleeve gastrectomy (VSG), the size of your stomach will be reduced to such an aim where you can eat the limited amount of food for a one time, this is how the considerable scale of your weight will be reduced with controlling the food calory intake.
This vertical sleeve gastrectomy (VSG) is comparatively less invasive using the laparoscopy techniques, you will have the several small incisions in the abdomen or surgical site. Although, during the recovery for gastric sleeve you may experience certain discomfort, swelling, and pain at the incision sites.
It is often the first treatment recommended by the professional doctors and surgeons to recover from the obesity among other weight loss methods. You can consider the VSG surgery recovery time of up to 8 weeks and in some cases it may go beyond the 10 weeks as well, depending on your health conditions.
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You can successfully lose 60 to 70% of your excess weight and regain normalcy after the surgery, however, you must consider the post-surgery complications rate of 0 to 10%, since no surgical operation is good for normal health beyond the threshold point, an experienced surgeon can well understand this.
How Long Does It Take To Recover From Gastric Sleeve?
Within 1 month (21 Days) you can get back to your normal life activities, where as to recover fully, you might require 2 months (56 Days) at least after your gastric sleeve surgery or the vertical sleeve gastrectomy (VSG), according to the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS).
To completely recovered, you will require 2 months you will be good to go with healthy conditions considering you did regularly take the follow-up sessions and instructions as per your doctor after your vertical sleeve gastrectomy (VSG) or the gastric sleeve surgery.
The given gastric sleeve recovery time is based on various studies and clinical guideline, however, there can be potenail risk and associated complications after the procedures that you are required to consider, before you opt for this treatment.
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Conclusion
This article have covered the comprehensive information about the gastric sleeve recovery time, along with the what to expect after gastric sleeve surgery and different factors influencing the sleeve gastrectomy recovery. You can learn about different timelines of the events with their expected recovery.
FAQs
How Long Do You Stay In Hospital After Gastric Sleeve?
Generally, it takes 1 to 3 days to stay in the Hospital after the procedure of the Gastric Sleeve and, you might be required to stay for two more days depending on your situation.
How Long Does It Take For Stomach To Heal After Gastric Bypass?
After Gastric Bypass, you can get on your feet to work normally within 3 to 4 weeks and to fully recover you may require up to 8 weeks considering proper pain management and nutritional diet.
How Long Are You Out Of Work After Gastric Sleeve Surgery?
After your gastric sleeve surgery, you will be out of work within the 21 days and can be fully recovered within 56 days.
How Long Before Swelling Goes Down After Bariatric Surgery
After the surgery, the swelling will start to subside within the first week and may get extended up to two weeks maximum before it goes down.
What to Expect the First Week After Gastric Sleeve?
During the first week after gastric sleeve, you may experience pain and discomfort, with certain activity restrictions and liquid diet recommended by your doctor.
How Long Does It Take For The Staple Line To Heal After Gastric Sleeve?
The staple line typically takes 4 to 6 weeks to heal after gastric sleeve surgery. However, for the stomach, it may require a few months to adapt to the new size and shape with regular follow-up sessions.
