How reliable is Bariatric Surgery?

Obesity is widespread among all the age groups around the world. Even though there is huge popularity of conventional and non-surgical treatments, some patients are failing to achieve required weight loss. Due to this the patients not only experience health risks like diabetes and heart diseases but also they succumb into depression. So many people are turning into surgical methods like bariatric surgery. To be eligible for this surgery is that a patient should have body mass index of more than 40 or with BMI of 35+ and suffering from diseases such as high cholesterol, hypertension or diabetes. A patient who qualifies the above criteria should have strong will power and he must be ready to take extreme changes in their lifestyle. A patient should be willing to commit to long term follow ups or even lifelong. Also to keep up with the consistent weight, a patient should follow prescribed diet and also be physically active.

What is bariatric surgery?

Bariatric surgery is done to reduce the amount of calories intake by making changes to the digestive system. The surgery is of two types- gastric bypass and gastric banding. Gastric bypass involves the restriction of absorption of calories and nutrition by reducing the size of stomach and bypassing the part of small intestine. Gastric banding involves the restriction of calorie intake only by shrinking the size of the stomach using silicon bands.

Disadvantages of massive weight loss:

Bariatric surgery in India is immensely popular as it leads to massive weight loss due to removal of huge amounts of excess fats from the body. But this huge weight loss leads to sagging skin or loose skin on the treated area. Fortunately there are additional treatments available for such problems.

Additional treatments:

Circumferential body lifts: This involves the removal of excess skin and tissue remains after massive weight loss. The procedure is to make incisions around the entire circumference of the body mainly hip to hip and front to back.

Thigh lift: It is the process of tightening the skin and improving the contour of the thighs. This is done either by medial thigh lift or circumferential thigh lift.

Breast lift: Excessive weight loss will lead to drooping of breasts; this breast lift procedure will help in restoring the position and shape of the breasts.

Arm lift/ Branchioplasty: flabby skin on the arms is treated using the arm lift procedure.

Tummy tuck: This procedure involves removing of loose skin on the stomach using a bikini line cut.

Bariatric surgery in India is very popular as it leads to massive weight loss. But such huge weight loss can result in loose and flabby skin which can be corrected using the above additional treatments.