It’s tough enough to finally decide to have weight-loss surgery but choosing the right weight-loss surgery to go for among all the available procedures could be a daunting task on its own. You have to consider the different potential weight loss results and risks before you can boldly choose the best option to go for. So, how do you decide the best weight loss surgery for you?
Weight Loss Surgery – What Are Your Options?
There are 3 popular types of weight loss surgery procedures which are mini gastric bypass, gastric bypass, and sleeve gastrectomy.
Mini Gastric Bypass Surgery
The mini-gastric bypass surgery(MGB) is usually done as a laparoscopic procedure. It is reversible if needed, but the procedure is intended to be permanent. The surgeon begins by forming your stomach into a tube shape instead of its usual J-shape with a large pouch. The tube shape helps restrict your food intake, but it is not as small in the MGB as it is after roux-en-Y gastric bypass. It is about as wide as your esophagus. It bypasses 90 -95% of the stomach so that food directly enters the small intestine when a patient eats. This procedure results in favorable hormonal changes and increases the chance of reduced insulin resistance. Mini-Gastric bypass surgery is good for people with high severe reflux disease, hypertension, and diabetes.
Gastric Bypass Surgery
The gastric bypass surgery is a weight loss surgery procedure that reroutes your gastrointestinal tract by disconnecting the top part of the stomach, creating a small pouch and connecting it to a loop of your small intestine. It bypasses 90 -95% of the stomach so that food directly enters the small intestine when a patient eats. This procedure results in favorable hormonal changes and increases the chance of reduced insulin resistance. Gastric bypass surgery is good for people with high BMIs, severe reflux disease, and diabetes.
Sleeve Gastrectomy Surgery
This weight loss surgery procedure, also known as gastric sleeve surgery, is only done on the stomach. It involves removing about 85% of it to create a new stomach which seems like a “sleeve”. This surgery has a simpler procedure and good for people who weigh 450-500 pounds, people on medication for mental illness, those who have previously undergone multiple surgeries and others who have high surgical risks. This surgery, however, it is irreversible.
Which Weight Loss Surgery Is Right For You?
This is something that your surgeon should help you decide, not every procedure is suited for each person. Depending on health, BMI and lifestyle will play a huge role in which procedure is best. The most common and most well know is the Gastric Bypass. However, studies have found that this procedure also has the highest rates of risks such as ulcerations, dumping, and malnutrition The Mini Gastric Bypass has a lower complication rate with fewer side effects of ulcerations, dumping, and malnutrition. Sleeve gastric surgery is known to be safer than gastric bypass surgery. The complication risk for the former is 3% while that of the latter is 5%.
If you are trying to decide which of the weight loss surgeries above will suit you best, you can start by putting some things into consideration. This includes how much weight do you expect to lose, whether you have any weight-related health issues or not and your lifestyle. For example, gastric sleeve surgery is best for people who travel often or with a busy life because it is not expensive to maintain. You also need to consider if you want to lose weight for knee replacement, ex hip or spine surgery. Sleeve gastrectomy is proven to be effective in elective surgeries.
