Laparoscopic Surgery

Laparoscopy is a type of surgery that gets its name from the laparoscope, a slender tool that has a tiny video camera and light on the end. When a surgeon inserts it through a small cut into your body, they can look at a video monitor and see what’s happening inside you. Without those tools, they’d have to make a much larger opening. Thanks to special instruments, there’s less cutting, and your surgeon doesn’t have to reach into your body, either. Laparoscopic surgery lets doctors see inside your body without making large cuts, leading to quicker recovery times.

Benefits of Laparoscopic Surgery

Laparoscopic surgery has several advantages over traditional surgery. Because it involves less cutting:

• You have smaller scars.
• You get out of the hospital quicker.
• You'll feel less pain while the scars heal, and they heal quicker.
• You get back to your normal activities sooner.
• You may have less internal scarring.
• You’ll have a reduced risk of wound infection.
• You’ll have a reduced risk of hemorrhage.
• You’ll need less pain medication.

Here’s an example. With traditional methods, you might spend a week or more in the hospital for intestinal surgery, and your total recovery might take 4-8 weeks. If you have laparoscopic surgery, you might stay only two nights in the hospital and recover in 2 or 3 weeks. And a shorter hospital stay generally costs less.