Wanna Lose Weight Now? Find Out How

More than 72 million Americans are obese. Find this bit of information hard to believe? Well, it’s true. Obesity can be countered by maintaining a healthy nutritious diet and regular fat-burning exercises. Sometimes even prolonged dieting and exercise fails to help morbidly obese people. In this situation, bariatrics comes into play. Bariatrics is a branch of medicine that diagnoses the causes of obesity, provides treatment to the patient and looks to achieve long term maintenance and prevention of its recurrence. There are specialized surgeons known as bariatric surgeons who perform weight loss surgeries. If you are one among those people who has tried every possible way to shed those extra pounds, and if nothing seems to be working, then you should resort to bariatric surgery.

Types of bariatric surgical procedures

1. Malabsorptive procedures: These surgical procedures involve the alteration of digestion of food. This surgery results in incomplete absorption of food and its elimination. By the use of surgical staples, a bypass of the small intestine is created which in turn limits calorie absorption. Some of the malabsorptive procedures are Extended Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass, Biliopancreatic Diversion and Duodenal Switch Surgery.

2. Restrictive procedures: Restrictive procedures are based predominantly on reducing the food intake of the patient. This is generally done by creating a small pouch on top of your stomach. This serves as your new stomach. You will experience a sense of fullness because of the reduced size of your stomach. The different types of restrictive bariatric surgeries are Vertical Banded Gastroplasty, Sleeve Gastrectomy and Lap-Band or Adjustable Banding Surgery.

3. Mixed Procedures: Mixed procedures combine and use both the restrictive and malabsorptive techniques simultaneously. Some of these procedures are Implantable Gastric Stimulation, Gastric Bypass Surgery and Sleeve Gastrectomy with Duodenal Switch.

Laparoscopic bariatric surgery

If you break out in cold sweat thinking about deep surgical incisions, stitches, acute pain and post-operative discomfort then you will be happy to find that laparoscopic bariatric surgery does away with this. Laparoscopic bariatric surgery is the least painful and traumatic among all obesity surgeries. Apart from minor incisions, there is no intestinal rerouting, stapling or deep surgical incisions involved in the procedure.

The first step you need to take before undergoing bariatric surgery is identifying proficient bariatric surgeons. Take the opinion of at least two bariatric surgeons. This will give you a better understanding of your condition. It is important for you to know if the surgeon has relevant experience and what is his success rate. He should have certification from the American Board of Surgery or the American Osteopathic Board of Surgery. Once you are confident about your surgeon, you can go ahead with the procedure and expect a healthier, better shaped body.