What is Bariatric Surgery?

The average fat quotient of the average American has seen a phenomenal rise in the last few decades, leading to a rise in the number of cases of grave diseases, such as diabetes, stroke, high blood pressure and so on.

In most obesity related cases, people do not take heed to the advices of their doctors and ultimately reach a situation, where weight loss surgery is the only option left with them. The most common weight loss surgery is the bariatric weight loss surgery.

Bariatric surgery is perhaps the best solution for those, who have extremely high Body Mass index, or are suffering from life threatening obesity; as a result of which, they need to lose weight quickly and are not in a position to go for the traditional methods of fat loss.

In case of Bariatric surgery, the focus is on the gastrointestinal tract, on which surgery is performed, to reduce the nutrient intake of the body. A bariatric surgery reduces the nutrient absorption capacity of the stomach, or the intestines. As a result of this, the calorie intake of the body reduces drastically.

Bariatric surgery can be broadly classified under two categories:

1. Restrictive bariatric surgery
Restrictive bariatric surgery is a surgery in which the size of the stomach is reduced by way of staple or bands. When the size of the stomach gets reduced, the amount of food that can be ingested gets reduced too as well.

2. Combined restrictive and malabsorptive surgery
In this kind of bariatric surgery, along with the reduction in the stomach size, the absorption capacity of the gastrointestinal tract is reduced drastically. As a result of this, the nutrient absorption rate gets reduced drastically, leading to a significant decline in calorie intake.

Perhaps the biggest advantage of bariatric surgery is that, people who undergo, bariatric surgery, are more likely to put off their weight over a long period of time. May be due to this reason, bariatric surgery has become quite popular in recent times. Not just that, a bariatric surgery, significantly reduces, the risk of major diseases, such as Type 2 diabetes, some forms of cancer, Heart disease, Hypertension, Arthritis, Stroke, Asthma, Sleep apnea etc.

However, it needs to be mentioned here, that, bariatric surgery, is after all a surgery; and therefore, it should be avoided. Therefore, it is only when your obesity becomes extremely unbearable, or life threatening, that you should opt for a bariatric surgery. So, in case of normal circumstances, where your Body mass index is less than 35, or even less than 40, it is better to go for a natural way of losing weight.

Surgeries For Weight Loss

There are different surgeries to reduce the weight. Some of them are:

1. Bariatric surgery
This surgery is for those who are over weight by more than 100 pounds and have Basal Metabolic Index of 40. In such obesity patients the surgery helps to reduce the weight much faster than the exercises, and the dietary solutions that they have already taken. The surgery restricts the food intake or hinders with the digestive system of the patient. This is done by either making the passage between the upper and lower part of the stomach narrow by banding or by making alterations in the intestine so that the food bypass the lower part of stomach, duodenum, jejunum. The first is the restrictive type and is by Adjustable Gastric Banding and Vertical Banded Gastroplasty. The second is of restrictive malabsorption type.

2. Gastric bypass surgery
This also like bariatric surgery is for patients with BMI over 40. By this surgery the food that the person intakes is allowed to bypass the stomach and a part of the intestine. Thus the person who has undergone surgery eats restricted amount of food in a meal and the body absorbs fewer calories resulting in the weight loss. The patients undergoing surgery have to follow a diet plan for certain time which is planned by the medical practitioners. They are first kept on the liquid diet and then their diet is gradually improved to semi liquid and then to a solid diet.

3. Liposuction
This is a type of cosmetic surgery in which the fat is removed from different parts of the body. The fat in the body part is sucked out through the vacuum device called cannula. Tumescent liposuction is common in which a sterile saline solution is injected in the body part where the liposuction is performed. In ultrasound liposuction the fat is liquefied by using sound waves. The desired result requires certain number of sittings. Liposuction is also common technique for cellulite removals.

Side effects
The surgeries do have their side effects. In liposuction the treated area can show increased sensitivity, necrosis or dying of the skin around the treated area, swelling and burning sensation.

In gastric bypass there may occur nutritional deficiencies especially of calcium and iron. This results in osteoporosis, anemia and other vitamin deficiency diseases. The risk of pneumonia increases. Other symptoms may include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, dehydration and stomach ulcers.

With bariatric surgery also there are conditions of increased risk of pneumonia, kidney stones, blood clots in legs, thiamine deficiency besides nausea, vomiting and other nutritional deficiencies.