Bariatric surgery is a safe and reliable way to address obesity. With an overall mortality rate of less than 1%, it has far lower risks than other common elective surgeries.
However, bariatric surgery may not be suitable for everyone who is severely overweight. It requires a commitment to making permanent changes in one’s eating, exercise and lifestyle – and it’s expensive too!
What is Bariatric Surgery?
Bariatric surgery, also referred to as weight loss surgery, is a surgical option that can help you shed excess fat and prevent obesity-related health problems. For best results, it should be combined with healthy dietary and lifestyle modifications.
Before opting for bariatric surgery, patients usually attempt to lose weight through diets, exercises and other non-surgical methods. If these efforts prove unsuccessful, the surgeon may suggest surgery as the last resort.
Bariatric surgery can reduce hunger and satiety, helping patients feel full faster. Unfortunately, it does not guarantee permanent weight loss or prevent regain; to maintain your ideal weight requires lifelong dietary and exercise changes for life.
Gastric Bypass Surgery
Gastric bypass surgery is a type of bariatric surgery that shrinks your stomach, restricting how much food can be eaten. Additionally, this procedure reduces calorie absorption from your body, leading to weight loss.
They then connect this new pouch to an opening in your small intestine, bypassing most of your stomach’s larger portion.
The new, smaller stomach pouch limits the amount of food you can eat and helps you feel full more quickly after eating. This may result in rapid weight loss as well as a diminished appetite.
In spite of the many advantages associated with this surgery, it is still essential to make lifestyle adjustments to ensure your body receives enough essential nutrients. These include eating a nutritious diet, increasing protein consumption and taking vitamin supplements such as calcium, iron or B12.
Gastric Sleeve Surgery
Gastric sleeve surgery is one of the most popular bariatric surgeries in the U.S. It removes around 80 percent of your stomach and shrinks it into a narrow tube known as a sleeve.
Weight loss occurs by decreasing hunger and making people feel full quickly after eating small amounts of food. It also suppresses certain appetite-stimulating hormones in the stomach.
Laparoscopic surgery is typically a minimally invasive way to help people lose weight, and it has proven to be both safe and effective.
Patients usually make a full recovery after having a sleeve gastrectomy. However, it is essential to adhere strictly to the diet and exercise instructions in order to avoid any potential complications.
Some sleeve gastrectomy patients experience dumping syndrome, when food passes too quickly through their digestive tract. Usually, this goes away with medication or changes in diet but it’s an uncommon complication.
As with any weight-loss procedure, long-term success relies on the patient’s commitment to making necessary lifestyle changes and seeing their surgeon and bariatric registered dietitian regularly; additionally, they must implement a healthy eating and exercise program.
Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass
Roux-en-Y gastric bypass has been a reliable bariatric surgery option for decades, combining restrictive and malabsorptive techniques to achieve excellent long-term weight loss with few side effects.
Before opting for bariatric surgery, it’s essential to be aware of the potential risks. These could include digestive issues such as nausea or abdominal pain or diarrhea; bowel obstruction or damage elsewhere on the body; and malnutrition.
What are the drawbacks of having bariatric surgery?
Bariatric surgery, often known as weight loss surgery, is a medical treatment used to help people who are extremely obese lose weight. Although bariatric surgery has the potential to be a successful treatment for obesity and the linked medical issues, it is not without dangers and side effects.
The following are some of the most typical side effects of bariatric surgery:
- Infection, bleeding, and blood clots are complications after surgery.
- Nutritional inadequacies, such as vitamin and mineral deficiency, which can cause illnesses like anemia.
- Digestive issues such bowel blockage, reflux, and dumping syndrome.
- Psychological outcomes, such as depression, anxiety, and modifications to one’s body image.
- Weight gain after surgery, which can happen if patients do not adhere to the suggested dietary and lifestyle adjustments.
People thinking about having bariatric surgery should carefully weigh the potential risks and advantages of the procedure and coordinate closely with their healthcare team to choose the best course of action for their particular requirements. To reduce the risk of side effects from bariatric surgery, regular follow-up visits and nutritional status monitoring are also crucial.
In conclusion, bariatric surgery may be a successful treatment for obesity and the health issues it is associated with, but it is crucial to be aware of any possible side effects. To reduce the risk of complications and guarantee long-term success following surgery, patients should collaborate closely with their healthcare team.
