In addition to helping you lose weight, the intragastric balloon reduces your appetite and improves your eating habits. It also helps you manage and control your weight loss results.
You may experience symptoms like nausea, vomiting, or acid reflux for a few days after the procedure. However, these are not long-lasting and can be easily managed with medication.
It’s Non-Surgical
The non-invasive Orbera Gastric Balloon provides a safe, effective path to lasting weight loss for patients who have yet to succeed with diet and exercise alone. During this fully-reversible procedure, an FDA-approved gastroenterologist will advance a thin tube with the Orbera balloon attached through your mouth into your stomach. The doctor will then fill the intra-gastric balloon with saline. The entire process takes about a half-hour.
The saline-filled balloon occupies space in your stomach, slowing the passage of food and liquid, so you’ll feel full after eating smaller meals. By the time you’re ready to remove the balloon, after six months of working closely with your support team on diet and lifestyle modification, you’ll have seen dramatic results – 20 or more pounds lost.
The balloon is removed the same way it was inserted – endoscopically – and the procedure typically lasts less than 20 minutes. If your appetite increases or your weight loss plateaus, it’s easy to have the saline volume in the balloon adjusted during an outpatient appointment. Each adjustment produces a fresh effect, encouraging continued weight loss.
It’s Versatile
A gastric balloon is a small silicone device inserted into your stomach. It is filled with saline to help you feel full and eat smaller portions.
A unique feature of our Orbera adjustable gastric balloon is that physicians can change the volume of the balloon by endoscopic means, which provides greater flexibility and improves the overall experience for patients. This enables us to accommodate some different weight loss needs. Decreasing the balloon size can alleviate discomfort or intolerance while increasing the balloon’s size boosts weight loss results.
The adjustable feature of the Orbera balloon helps prevent the infamous “weight loss plateau” that affects many other types of intra-gastric balloon solutions. This ensures that your balloon continues to produce the highest possible weight loss success rates, as evidenced by FDA Clinical Trials.
In addition to helping you lose up to three times more than diet and exercise alone, our team will also work with you to create a plan for long-term success. If you have struggled with achieving and maintaining sustainable weight loss, schedule your free assessment today to learn more about how our non-surgical gastric balloon could benefit you.
It’s Affordable
As a non-surgical weight loss procedure, the gastric balloon is less costly than surgical alternatives. Plus, there’s no need for anesthesia or incisions. Most insurance companies cover the procedure, but even if yours doesn’t, you’ll save money over traditional surgery options.
A single soft silicone balloon, filled with saline solution, is inserted into your stomach and expands to the size of a grapefruit. This helps you eat smaller meals and retrains your brain to anticipate hunger cues, giving you the power to lose significant pounds in six months or less.
Once you’ve reached your goals, the physician will deflate and remove the balloon in a simple procedure with little discomfort. Unlike other balloons, the adjustable balloon is unique because your gastroenterologist can “top it off” with additional volume during a quick 15-minute outpatient procedure. Each volume addition rejuvenates the balloon effect and encourages longer-lasting behavioral modification.
It’s Safe
Under conscious sedation, a gastric balloon is inserted during a short, non-invasive procedure. No cuts or incisions are needed, making it one of the safest weight loss procedures.
Your doctor will insert a thin tube with a balloon inside it down your throat and into your stomach. They will then fill the balloon with saline to occupy space in your stomach, making you feel full with smaller meals.
Some people experience nausea and vomiting for a few days after the gastric balloon is placed, but this usually passes within three to five days. You may also notice GERD symptoms, which can be managed with daily antacid medications.
Unlike other non-adjustable gastric balloon systems, our Spatz3 system allows physicians to “top off” your balloon if it loses efficacy or you become intolerant. This feature eliminates the need for removal and enables our patients to achieve industry-leading weight loss results. In contrast, a few patients with other non-adjustable balloons develop persistent intolerance and require removal. In addition, the balloon can leak from its opening or rupture from a kink in the inflation tube.
It’s Effective
The adjustable balloon works by restricting your appetite and changing your eating. It also helps you retrain your brain to anticipate when you’ll feel full and encourages you to eat smaller meals. Combined with your support team, including a dietician and fitness trainer, you’ll see amazing results — averaging 30 lbs. or 15% of your total body weight in the first six months after placement.
Inserting an intragastric balloon is a simple endoscopic procedure involving placing a deflated balloon attached to an endoscope, a narrow lighted tube guided into your mouth and stomach to locate the correct position. Your doctor then fills the balloon with a saline solution or dye.
The unique design of the adjustable balloon enables your physician to “top it off” at any time during a 15-minute outpatient procedure. This allows your physician to adjust the volume of your balloon to alleviate any gastrointestinal intolerance, break through a weight loss plateau, or promote accelerated weight loss.
