What’s Involved in a Cholecystectomy

The human digestive system is able to process the food that we eat into nutrients our body uses for growth, energy, and repairing tissues. It has many components, including the mouth, stomach, intestines, liver, and gallbladder. If one of these parts isn’t able to do its job, you aren’t able to fully digest your food.
At TInsley Surgical in Wilmington, North Carolina, we understand that surgery is a major medical procedure that can cause a lot of confusion and anxiety for patients. Highly skilled and compassionate vascular surgeon Dr. Ellis A. Tinsley provides his patients with top-notch treatments using the latest surgical techniques. Dr. TInsley has extensive experience successfully removing gallbladders using minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery.

What does your gallbladder do?

Your gallbladder is a tiny organ located in the upper right part of your abdomen, just below your liver. It collects bile, a chemical made by the liver that your body uses to digest fats and fat-soluble vitamins.
Your gallbladder can develop a number of conditions that may require its removal, a surgical procedure known as a cholecystectomy. The most common reason for gallbladder removal is the presence of gallstones, hard deposits that form in your gallbladder and cause significant pain.

What’s involved in a cholecystectomy

The purpose of a cholecystectomy is complete removal of your gallbladder. At Tinsley Surgical, we offer minimally invasive laparoscopic gallbladder surgery, a great option for many patients.
Compared with traditional open surgery, laparoscopic surgery uses smaller incisions to reduce risks for you while significantly decreasing the recovery time needed after your procedure. Smaller incisions also result in smaller scars once you have healed from your surgery.
You are given general anesthesia so you sleep during the surgery. Dr. Tinsley makes several small incisions in your abdomen where your gallbladder is located. He then fits a tiny camera called a laparoscope into one of the incisions, which sends images to a monitor.
Using the laparoscope to guide him, Dr. Tinsley makes several small cuts to remove your gallbladder. Once the procedure is complete, he closes your incisions using sutures, special stitches that do not need to be removed.

After surgery

Following your surgery, you should be able to return home to rest to allow your body to heal from the procedure. You need to limit your activities for a few weeks and watch your incisions to ensure they are healing correctly. Dr. Tinsley provides you with specific instructions and is available if you have questions or concerns.
When you need to have surgery, you want to have complete confidence in your surgeon to make the procedure go as smoothly as possible and be successful. Gallbladder removal can often be completed using minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery that has lower risks and a faster recovery time when compared with traditional surgery.
To learn more about cholecystectomy, contact our office to set up an appointment