Weight Loss Surgery What You Need to Know

Weight loss surgery is a serious surgical procedure that decreases the size of the stomach, reduces food intake and can enable you to lose a significant amount of weight. It is a permanent procedure that requires a lifetime commitment to maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Weight loss surgery not only helps you to lose weight, but can help improve your overall health, well-being and self-esteem.

Types of Weight Loss Surgery

Gastric bypass surgery, Lap-Band surgery and the gastric sleeve procedure are the three most widely practiced types of weight loss surgery.

During gastric bypass surgery, the weight loss surgeon staples the smaller, upper part of the stomach, separating it from the rest of the stomach. The net result is that the amount of food you can eat is reduced. The small intestine is rerouted and connected to the smaller stomach pouch.

In Lap-Band surgery, the surgeon places a silicone rubber band around the top of your stomach; this creates a very small stomach pouch. When you eat, you feel full very quickly. Food slowly flows from the smaller pouch into the lower part of the stomach and then into the rest of the digestive tract.

Gastric sleeve surgery uses a keyhole approach that involves the use of a laparoscopic tool that is inserted through small incisions. The laparoscopic tool provides a visual guide to the inside of the abdomen during the procedure.

Weight Loss Surgery Consultation

It is best to consult a surgeon who specializes in bariatric surgery to determine your options for treatment. If you are significantly overweight and you have been unable to achieve or maintain a healthy weight with diet and exercise, or if your weight is causing medical problems, you may be a candidate for weight loss surgery.

A physician will also evaluate your existing medical conditions that may complicate surgery, your medical conditions that will improve after surgery and whether you are ready to adopt a dietary lifestyle change.

Are you a candidate for the surgery?

Whether you are a candidate for weight loss surgery is dependent upon two different types of considerations. The first are medical considerations and the others are just when you think "enough is enough" when it comes to your weight loss struggle. When you consider the medical considerations/criteria for weight loss surgery, they are straight-forward. The National Institutes of Health use the body mass index (BMI) of a patient to measure how significantly overweight you are based upon your height and weight. A BMI of 40 or higher automatically qualifies you based upon weight criteria alone while a BMI between 35 and 40 can also qualify you for weight loss surgery but you need a potentially life-threatening co-morbidity in order to qualify for surgery. These guidelines are recognized by most major insurance companies. Your BMI can be calculated using the BMI calculator listed below. Simply type in your height and weight.

In patients with a BMI of less than 35 who have been struggling with their weight for many many years, weight loss surgery may still be an option. Most surgeons consider surgery in patients with a BMI of 35 or less as being "experimental.” However there can be a strong argument made in such patients according to a recent and randomized prospective trial from Australia looking at patients who were treated with a BMI less that 35 with optimal medical therapy compared to those with laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (LAGB). LAGB was substantially better achieving significant, sustained weight loss compared to patients on the optimal medical therapy. Also, the lap band group was less likely to develop diseases related to obesity as compare dto the medical group Optimal medical therapy can be defined as exercise, behavioral and nutritional modifications in the addition of anorexic drugs (appetitie suppressants). Under optimal medical management, most of the time, patients either gained weight or lost a modest amount of weight in which there was no real definable degree of success. This landmark study demonstrated that there is a true value in operating upon patients of the body mass index less than 35. Unfortunately, most private insurance companies do not accept the criteria for a BMI< 35. Texas Bariatric Specialists offers surgical weight loss options with a BMI < 35. Options for such patients include less invasive procedures such as lap sleeve gastrectomy or laparoscopic adjustable gastric band.