What Are the Benefits of Bariatric Surgery?

Weight-loss surgery with bariatric procedures also offers many other advantages, such as treating conditions associated with severe obesity such as diabetes and heart disease, improving sleep apnea, arthritis and helping lower cancer risks.

Undergoing surgery for weight management requires specialization from bariatric surgeons – medical doctors specialized in managing bodyweight. Bariatric surgeons work to promote healthy eating habits and exercise regimes as well as prescribe vitamins and minerals supplements as part of the solution.

Gastric sleeve

The gastric sleeve procedure is an innovative weight-loss procedure that involves surgically shrinking your stomach to help you shed extra pounds. Laparoscopic techniques make this surgery ideal for people who are overweight. Most patients can expect to lose 25-30% of their excess weight within one to two years after having their sleeve done, an astounding feat that surpasses any commercial diet’s effectiveness, no matter how carefully followed it may be. The Sleeve decreases appetite-stimulating hormone production from your stomach and improves glucose metabolism, which in turn reverses Type 2 diabetes while decreasing medication needs. Many patients also report experiencing relief from other health conditions like high blood pressure or sleep apnea as a result of use.

Following surgery, you will start off on a liquid diet for several weeks after which time soft foods will gradually replace liquid foods as you move towards solid food consumption. Your weight loss surgeon or dietitian will provide a gastric sleeve diet plan which requires small portions.

The gastric sleeve can be safe and effective long-term solution; however, there may be risks involved with its use. Some may regain weight because their stomach pouch can stretch out over time or experience nutritional deficiencies because their meals have drastically decreased since starting treatment with this procedure. If this occurs, a doctor can either repair the sleeve or convert it to another bariatric procedure with more dramatic results such as duodenal switch or gastric bypass surgery to achieve more dramatic weight loss results.

Gastric bypass

If you are extremely obese, gastric bypass can help you shed unwanted weight effectively and sustainably. By altering gut hormone levels and altering the weight set point, this procedure changes how much food you eat as well as lowering blood sugar, which lowers diabetes risks. Although safe and effective procedures exist for this form of surgery, diet adjustments will need to take place after this surgery; in particular avoiding fatty and spicy foods along with drinking ample water to make this effective and safe procedure successful. You may experience temporary discomfort after this surgery has taken effect but this should subside with time.

Your surgeon will use surgical staples to form a small pouch in the upper portion of your stomach, connecting it with the middle section of small intestine. Bypassing larger stomach and part of small intestine reduces food consumption significantly.

Temple’s bariatric surgical team offers pre- and post-surgery counseling, along with follow up care, to prepare you for weight loss surgery. You’ll meet with a dietitian to evaluate your eating patterns and nutritional needs as well as learn healthier eating habits to support long-term success after surgery. In addition, before your operation you will undergo several tests including upper endoscopy with Helicobacter pylori testing as well as basic lab evaluation tests; additionally you will commit to attending monthly group therapy sessions with licensed counselor.

Duodenal switch

Duodenal switch surgery is a minimally invasive surgical procedure that combines the benefits of both gastric sleeve (restriction) and bypass of lower portion of small intestine (malabsorption) for weight loss. It has the potential to be more successful than other bariatric procedures at long-term weight loss as well as improving diseases related to obesity such as diabetes or sleep apnea.

Duodenal switches differ from Roux-en-Y gastric bypass and traditional duodenal switches by featuring only one anastomosis rather than the two connections used during those procedures, thus reducing complications and speeding recovery for patients, while also decreasing leak risks. They require strict, high protein diets in order to prevent protein and vitamin deficiencies – thus adhering to follow up visits and nutrition guidance is crucial in order to avoid serious health complications due to such deficiencies.

Post-surgery patients must follow certain dietary restrictions and also consume plenty of essential vitamins and minerals such as calcium, magnesium and folic acid to aid their recovery from surgery. Some common symptoms may include bloating, foul-smelling stool, diarrhea and bowel irritation.

Surgery that alters signals between the gut and brain to achieve lasting weight loss has a high success rate and helps resolve several serious medical conditions linked with obesity, such as type 2 diabetes and hypertension. Although less commonly performed than other bariatric procedures, this particular surgery has shown to produce the greatest level of weight loss.

Adjustable gastric band

Adjustable gastric bands are one of the most widely utilized weight loss surgeries due to their low risk and success rates of long-term weight loss. Furthermore, this procedure has also proven useful in treating obesity-related health conditions such as gastroesophageal reflux disease, sleep apnea and high cholesterol.

After an operation, patients are usually hospitalized for 2-3 days to prevent blood clots, respiratory issues and bedsores from occurring. Pain medications will likely be prescribed as necessary and initially they will follow a liquid diet until their soft food diet becomes adequate; then they’ll visit a dietician in order to learn how to prepare and consume healthy meals.

After surgery, your gastric band can be adjusted by adding or subtracting saline fluid through a port placed beneath your skin on your abdomen. This adjustment process occurs during office visits with your surgeon; its goal is to create an ideal restriction, where hunger is still controlled while food still moves through your stomach easily.

If the band is too tight, it may cause discomfort and increase the risk of band erosion into the stomach or esophageal motility issues. If this happens, it may be necessary to convert to a sleeve or bypass.