What is the most popular Bariatric Surgery?
Bariatric Surgery or Weight loss surgery is very popular these days and helps cause weight loss by restricting the amount of food the stomach can hold. These surgeries act as tools that help affect the patient’s stomach and how they digest the food being their main objective to reduce the stomach capacity, thus causing the feeling of being full after eating a small amount of food. As such, the patient will absorb fewer calories after surgery. Since the year 2000, there has been a trend for more and more people to have weight loss surgery but which surgery is the most popular bariatric surgery?
Bariatric Surgery is one of the most effective ways to treat obesity. Patients must learn about the different types of bariatric surgery procedures and how they help with weight loss in their different ways.
Most Bariatric surgeries are performed using minimally invasive techniques such as laparoscopic or one incision surgery. Nowadays, the most popular bariatric surgery procedures are Gastric Sleeve Surgery (VSG) and Gastric Bypass surgery (RNY):
- Gastric Sleeve Surgery is a restrictive procedure that works by shrinking the size of the stomach and slowing down the digestion of the body. If a normal stomach is able to hold about 3 pints of food, after the surgery, it will be smaller and it may hold 3 to 4 ounces. The smaller that the stomach is, the less the patient can eat and more weight will be lost via a restrictive technique.
- Gastric Bypass Surgery is a restrictive and malabsorptive procedure that will make the patient’s stomach smaller and the same time, remove or bypass part of the digestive tract, making it harder for the body to absorb calories. Here the calories bypass the body and the RNY helps the patient lose weight via malabsorption.
Many studies found that Gastric Bypass surgery boasted the greatest weight loss short and long term and for years it has been known as the “Gold Standard” for weight loss. However, this procedure has a higher rate of complications in the month following the surgery compared to the Gastric Sleeve surgery, and today, Gastric Sleeve surgery is outperforming Gastric Bypass surgery for many patients. Today the Gastric Sleeve surgery is also the “Gold Standard” for weight loss, and in reality, one surgery over the other is ideal for specific amounts of weight loss. Dr. Juan Francisco Hidalgo who practices bariatric surgery out of the weight loss clinic, Weight Loss Team in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico says that the Gastric Bypass is ideal for a patient that needs to lose 130+ pounds, and the Gastric Sleeve is ideal for a patient needing to lose less than that amount. Of course, there are other options for weight loss like the Duodenal Switch, the Mini Bypass, or even the outdated Lapband, but in reality, the two best options for surgery are either the Gastric Sleeve or the RNY Gastric Bypass.
The Gastric Sleeve success rate is approximately 80 to 90% of patients having surgery. On average, patients experience excess weight loss of about 60-80% within one year of having surgery. This procedure can lead to positive health outcomes and it is considered safe when compared to other commonly performed surgeries. The complication rate for the Gastric Sleeve is less than 1%, though that is not to say that complications are not possible.
The RNY Gastric Bypass also has a similar success rate of about 90% of the patients having surgery. With this procedure the patients typically lose about 80% of their weight in the first year and a half post-surgery. The RNY Gastric Bypass has about a 3% complication rate and does have a higher fatality rate than the Gastric Sleeve surgery but is still a very solid choice for the morbidly obese patients that face an uphill battle with life carrying that much weight.
Many factors will determine which type of weight loss surgery would be the best for the patient. So, whatever surgery the patients decide to have, they must understand that they will need to make significant lifestyle changes after their Weight Loss Surgery to lose weight and keep it off. The weight loss surgery is merely the first step to making a change; the rest is really and truly up to the patient and their actions after the surgery.
Having Bariatric Surgery is an important decision to make. So, the patient must consult a specialist for an assessment to know the different procedure options to be able to choose the one that is best suited for them according to their medical history.
For more information regarding Clinics/ Hospitals and Weight Loss Options mentioned in this article:
Weight Loss Team – Dr. Juan F. Hidalgo
Website: www.weightlossteam.com/
Email: info@weightlossteam.com
Telephone: Toll free 1(800) 404-9064 or + 1(818) 949-6911
