Bariatric surgery refers to that surgical procedure, which removes body fat. The aim of bariatric surgery is to reduce obesity. When you have excessive body weight, it can lead to several medical complications such as high blood pressure, diabetes or obstructive sleep apnea. Obesity can affect several body organs like heart, liver, and kidneys. When other medical interventions fail to curb obesity, then bariatric surgery is deployed by surgeons. However, this surgical procedure can lead to some side effects.
Before you go in for this surgery, you should bear in mind these facts:
- Your Body Mass Index or BMI is the first thing you need to know. BMI is calculated by dividing body weight (in kilograms) by height (in meters squared). You can check your BMI by referring to the BMI chart available at several clinics.
- To qualify for bariatric surgery, a patient’s BMI should be between 35 and 40 and he/she should have a cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus or severe sleep apnea.
Various medical clinics in Australia have been performing bariatric surgery since the early 1990s, and broadly there are 3 main kinds of treatment. Each treatment is restrictive, meaning you have to control your food intake in each of these treatments. You can click here to know more about how you can recover from your bariatric surgery.
During your visit to any medical clinic, your surgeon will explain each bariatric surgery in detail. He will also tell you about the benefits, and risks involved so that you can make an informed decision.
Please realize that the success of any bariatric surgery also depends upon your diet control. Unless you control your dietary intake in terms of calorie intake, quality of food, no surgery is going to help you.
Types of Surgical Procedures
- Gastric Bypass
Various health and medical clinics consider Gastric Bypass as the ‘Gold Standard’ in bariatric surgery. In this surgical procedure, doctors avoid much of the stomach and the first part of small intestine. A small pouch is created that is stapled to the stomach. The purpose of this pouch is to control the food intake inside the stomach.
Similarly, the small intestine is divided into two parts; one part is raised and is connected to the pouch, while the other part is joined to the remainder of the stomach.
There are two main advantages associated with this procedure. One , the patient can reduce as much as 70-80% of his body weight. Secondly, medical conditions like sleep apnea, high blood pressure and acid reflux can be reversed due to this procedure.
- Adjustable Gastric Band
In this procedure, the upper part of your stomach is tied with a small band. This restricts the food intake into your abdominal cavity. Every time you eat some food, you feel that your stomach is filled to the brim. The pouch that is created by tying a band can be made smaller or bigger by injecting some fluid into that band.
There are a few advantages to this surgical procedure. There is no cutting, stapling, etc or any sort of invasive distortion caused to the stomach issue. The recovery period is shorter here, and thirdly, the size of your stomach is restored after the treatment.
- Sleeve Gastrectomy
In this operation, the stomach is divided into two parts by creating a sleeve. This sleeve is made with the help of a surgical stapler. After this, 2/3rd of the stomach is removed so that every time you eat something, you get a feeling as if your belly is full.
The main advantage of this operation is that weight loss is significant.
However, beyond the weight of advantages, it is your doctor who would be able to suggest better on which procedures goes for your case. We hope you choose a trusted doctor and make a healthy choice!