Bariatric Surgery
Weight loss is defined as the decrease of body weight due to the loss of fluid, fat, or muscle. Society tends to influence the masses to associate being thin with beauty. Though the media may portray it as such, this is not the true reality. Dieting and weight loss is a 40 billion dollar per year industry. Health reasons as well as the media blitz have made weight loss surgeries so popular today. While surgical weight loss is not a cosmetic procedure, it often enhances a person’s self esteem. Losing a large amount of weight can often lead to cosmetic surgical procedures for excess sagging skin.
For people who have been unable to lose weight through conventional methods of diet, exercise and or medications this may be the only option. This course of action is often referred to as Bariatric surgery and is generally reserved for those individuals who are considered morbidly obese. Obesity results from the excessive accumulation of fat that exceeds the body’s physical standards. To be considered for one of the surgical weight loss approaches a person needs to be at least 100lbs over the average for their height and weight and have a BMI greater than 40.
The surgical procedures are considered either restrictive, malabsorptive or a combination of both. Restrictive procedures are based on the premise that if the stomach is smaller, it will fill faster and fewer calories will be consumed. Malabsorptive procedures involve altering digestion by bypassing the stomach to the small intestine which limits the absorption of calories, in so doing weight loss is the result. This is known as gastric bypass.
A combination of malabsorption and restrictive procedures are done to take advantage of both types of calorie restriction. The most common and successful combined surgery is called the Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass. Gastroplasty, is the surgical suturing or stapling of a portion of the stomach to prevent large quantities of food from entering. The lap band surgery is another method of a restrictive procedure in which a device is placed around the stomach and can be adjusted to allow more or less restriction.
Once the weight has been decreased there is excess skin which can cause functional as well as aesthetic issues for a patient. The skin is fairly forgiving and can accommodate weight loss, but large amounts of rapid weight loss may require this excess skin to be removed. Several procedures are available to lift or eliminate excess sagging skin such as tummy tuck, body lifts, breast reduction, lifts, and liposuction. |
