Available Weight Loss Surgeries

Educate Yourself About The Options

Nov 4, 2009

Several different weight loss surgeries are available to help people with difficulty losing and keeping the weight off with traditional methods.

Obesity is a problem for millions of Americans. It has become a true epidemic in recent years and is now affecting children and adults in larger numbers than ever before. Many different weight loss surgeries have been developed to try and help with this problem. Having knowledge about these different surgeries can help you determine if this is a choice that can help you succeed at weight loss.

Gastric Bypass

According to The Mayo Clinic, gastric bypass is the weight loss surgery that is most frequently chosen by patients and performed by physicians. It also carries the lowest risk of complications. The people that are right for gastric bypass are ones that have a BMI of 35 to 39.9 and have a health related concern such as high blood pressure or diabetes, or someone who has a BMI of 40 and above with or without any health related concern. The person will be placed under general anesthesia to perform this surgery. Once the person is under the anesthesia, the physician will staple the top of the stomach, which will leave a small pouch that will hold about an ounce of food. The small intestine will then be cut and sewn directly onto the pouch. This will allow the food to be redirected around the larger portion of the stomach and small intestine.

Gastric Banding

Gastric banding is another type of weight loss surgery that has become popular. This surgery is popular because it is a less invasive version and offers the ability to be adjusted to meet the needs of the patient. According to the website for The LAP-BAND Gastric Banding System, the physician will use laparoscopy to place the gastric band around the top part of the stomach and create a new smaller stomach. The band is then locked into place with a ring that is placed around the stomach. To make sure that the system stays firmly in place, some of the stomach tissue will be folded over the device and stitched together. The last step involves creating an access port which will be used by the physician to adjust and change the LAP-BAND system as needed.

Sleeve Gastrectomy

The sleeve gastrectomy is a weight loss surgery that is commonly performed in the United States. According to The Bariatric Edge, this surgery is done by creating a small sleeve shaped stomach out of the stomach. This new stomach is a little larger than the stomach created by the gastric bypass surgery. The new stomach is about the size of a medium sized banana. Patients that have a BMI of 60 are excellent candidates for this surgery and the surgery can be done as the first step before doing the gastric bypass. This helps the patient to fully succeed at weight loss by moving toward the goal in steps.

The copyright of the article Available Weight Loss Surgeries in Weight Loss Methods is owned by Kristie Jernigan. Permission to republish Available Weight Loss Surgeries in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.