Monday, September 26, 2016

As America's obesity epidemic has become even greater, millions of people are turning to weight loss surgeries to help them get control of their weight. With a market like that, medical research dollars have soared for weight loss surgery options in recent decades and there are now many different types of weight loss surgery available to choose from.

Picking which weight loss surgery is right for you depends on a number of factors. What will your insurance pay for? How strict do you want your diet to be? How much research do you want there to be on safety and long term effects?

Here you will find a brief explanation of each of the most common types of weight loss surgeries, along with some of their advantages and disadvantages. Please note that these are generalities and any decision about weight loss surgery is heavily dependent on your individual circumstance and must be discussed with a certified bariatric surgeon before makin a decision. In Nashville, Baptist, Vanderbilt, and Centennial all have Bariatric Surgery Centers.

Gastric Bypass

The oldest and most common of the weight loss surgery options still in wide use, Gastric Bypass surgery works by a combination of restriction, or reduction of the stomach size, and malabsorption.

Pros: Weight loss with this type of surgery tends to be very swift and dramatic, with most patients seeing a huge weight loss number in the first six months after surgery. It is also the oldest of the surgeries and has the most research available on long-term effects of patients.

Cons: It is an invasive surgery that permanently alters your stomach. Even with newer innovations in laparoscopic surgeries, it still requires a hospital stay and a lengthier recovery time than some of the other surgeries. The malabsorption can cause what is known as "dumping syndrome", where patients that eat too much sugar get sick.

Lap Band

Lap Band surgery is a surgery where the surgeon will place an adjustable band around the upper portion of your stomach, creating a small pouch that can only hold 8-10 ounces of food before triggering your "full" reflex.

Pros: This is the least invasive of the weight loss surgeries. It does not involve any permanent re-arrangement of your stomach at all and many patients do not require an overnight hospital stay. It is also adjustable, meaning if you begin gaining weight or being able to eat more down the road, the doctor can "fill" the band, tightening the hole that food travels through.

Cons: Because the Lap Band relies solely on restriction and not malabsorption, it requires much more discipline on the part of the patient to follow the rules, such as not drinking with meals and not eating certain foods that fall through the band easily. Patients typically do not lose quite as much excess body weight as with Gastric Bypass, 50-60% of excess on average rather than 60-80% with the bypass.

Gastric Sleeve

One of the newest innovations in weight loss surgery, much of the stomach is removed with the gastric sleeve, leaving behind a "sleeve" that connects esophogus to intestines.

Pros: The surgery is less invasive than gastric bypass and is often used as a "first operation" for patients who are deemed medically risky for Gastric Bypass surgery.

Cons: Weight loss with the Gastric Sleeve tends to be 40-50% of the excess weight, much less than the others. It is often a "gateway" surgery used to get patients healthy enough for a Gastric Bypass so often requires two surgeries. Because it is so new, many insurance companies will not pay for the Gastric Sleeve. Also because of its newness, research about long term consequences of the Gastric Sleeve are limited.

Duodenal Switch

Another of the newest innovations in weight loss surgery, this differs from the Gastric Bypass surgery in that the pouch is larger than with bypass, so meals can be larger.

Pros: It allows for larger meals than the Gastric Bypass as it relies much more on malabsorption for its weight loss results. It tends to have one of the highest excess weight loss rates among the surgery types.

Cons: The extreme malabsorptive portion of this surgery requires patients to be extremely diligent in taking vitamin and mineral supplements or risk malnutrition. It is also the most risky of the surgery, with WebMD reporting death risk from this surgery ranging from 2-5%. A fat loss review can help you establish a clear summarize of what you need to focus on to complete your fat loss objective if you're a starter; or serve as a reminder for those who are at an advanced or more improve phase of their weight-loss plan. Promptly after are seven steps that can serve as guidelines for your special weight loss plan. The first thing that one must understand is that losing weight and losing fat is not the same thing. Many weight loss plans have fooled people into thinking that it is the same, but most diets and weight loss applications only work by causing a person's body to burn more muscle tissue and water than actual body fat, more help please visit The Fat Loss Factor. Because it is so new, very few insurance companies pay for Duodenal Switch and research into long term effects is very limited.

What weight loss surgery type is right for you? The best way to find out is to read up on each of these options and then have a frank discussion with a weight loss surgeon. This is a time to be brutally honest about what you think you can and can't do as far as diet, exercise, and portion control. The surgeon will be able to assist you in customizing a weight loss surgery to fit your needs and a Bariatric Clinic insurance specialist can assist you in navigating the often lengthy approval process with your insurance company.


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