There are a lot of choices when it comes to the best surgical procedures for weight loss. Some procedures are more successful than others and some can have extreme risks associated with them. Before you make a decision to undergo weight loss surgery, be sure to do your research and understand the benefits and the risks.
What Is the Safest Weight Loss Surgery?
Each surgery for weight loss has benefits for certain people, depending on their health status and situation. Below are summaries of the surgeries offered and the ideal candidates for each type of procedure:
Gastric Sleeve
Ideal Candidates
Severely obese (BMI of 35 or more) for more than five years. Nonsurgical serious weight-loss attempts unsuccessful. Willingness to make significant lifestyle changes.
How It’s Done
Large segment of the stomach is removed through a small incision. Minimally invasive laparoscopic technique. Part of stomach that creates hunger-producing hormone is removed. Patients experience diminished appetite.
Benefits
No device is implanted with the gastric sleeve. Simpler procedure than gastric bypass. Fewer food intolerances than with gastric band. No intestinal rerouting. Faster weight loss than gastric banding. Appropriate for teenagers from age 14 and up.
Expected Weight Loss
30 to 50 percent of excess weight in the first six to 12 months, with a total of 50 to 70 percent excess weight loss over two years.
Gastric Banding
Ideal Candidates
Severely obese (BMI of 35 or more) for more than five years. Nonsurgical serious weight-loss attempts unsuccessful. Willingness to make significant lifestyle changes.
How It’s Done
Gastric band is placed around the stomach to create a small stomach pouch. Minimally invasive laparoscopic technique. Port accessible at the skin’s surface allows for easy adjustments. Works by limiting food intake, reducing appetite and slowing digestion.
Benefits
One of the safest, least invasive surgical weight loss options. No stomach stapling or intestinal rerouting. Outpatient procedure. Adjustable and reversible bariatric surgery option. Fast recovery time. Appropriate for teenagers from 14 and up.
Expected Weight Loss
50 percent of excess weight over 2 years.
Gastric Bypass
Ideal Candidates
Severely obese (BMI of 35 or more) for more than five years. Nonsurgical serious weight-loss attempts unsuccessful. Willingness to make significant lifestyle changes.
How It’s Done
Stomach is made smaller by creating a small pouch; intestines are rerouted. Minimally invasive laparoscopic technique. Post-surgery, patients absorb fewer calories and nutrients.
Benefits
Rapid weight loss from gastric bypass. Patients have experienced resolution of diabetes, hypertension, sleep apnea, and coronary artery disease. Increased weight loss compared to gastric banding. Appropriate for teenagers from age 14 and up.
Expected Weight Loss
65 to 80 percent of excess weight over 18 months.
Gastric Bypass Revision
Ideal Candidates
Former gastric bypass patients who have regained weight. Patients who did not lose weight after gastric bypass.
How It’s Done
Incisionless procedure returns the stomach pouch to the size achieved after gastric bypass. A small, flexible endoscope is inserted through the mouth.
Benefits
Outpatient procedure. Fast recovery time. No scarring. Minimal post-operative pain.
Expected Weight Loss
Loss of one to two pounds a week, starting immediately after surgery.
RISKS OF OBESITY VS SURGERY
Historically bariatric surgery was thought to be high risk for mostly cosmetic rewards but this decades-old thinking was and is completely incorrect.
Obesity increases the risk of several diseases and serious health conditions, lowers an individual’s quality of life, affects and limits their ability to function physically like navigating stairs, sitting in a chair, or playing with their children. It is also connected with mental and emotional health disorders such as anxiety and clinical depression.
The risks of fatal complications from bariatric surgery are extremely rare and when compared with the risk of death from one of the many side effects (comorbidities) of obesity pale in comparison.
Patients who undergo bariatric surgery and lose weight are:
- 40% less likely to die from heart disease;
- 92% less likely to die from type 2 diabetes;
- 60% less likely to die from cancer.
OBESITY-RELATED DISEASES
Obesity is directly associated with several illnesses that require ongoing medication or medical intervention and if left untreated can lead to an untimely death. Health issues that are weight-related include:
- Type 2 diabetes;
- Coronary disease;
- High blood pressure or hypertension;
- High cholesterol and other cholesterol issues;
- Stroke;
- Gallbladder disease;
- Osteoarthritis – a breakdown of cartilage and bone within a joint;
- Sleep apnea and breathing problems;
- Several different cancers.
WHY UNDERGO BARIATRIC SURGERY?
Obesity is not only a weight problem or one that shows a lack of willpower but a metabolic disease with complexity. In many cases, a patient’s metabolism is working against them while they are doing their best to follow their diet and exercise plan.
Bariatric surgery helps these patients counteract the metabolic changes their body attempts to enforce and is considered one of the most effective and safest ways to help patients with the challenges of losing weight.
According to the American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS), a patient whose body mass index (BMI) has risen above 35 has less than a 1% chance of achieving a healthy body weight and maintaining it on their own without medical intervention.
To learn more about the benefits of bariatric weight loss, and what the best weight loss surgery for you may be, join our free online bariatric seminar.
TYPES OF BARIATRIC SURGERY
There are different types of weight loss surgery available and most are done laparoscopically. Despite the technique, all offer individuals the opportunity to achieve significant weight loss. But what is the best weight loss surgery? Let’s take a look at the different options available.
LAPAROSCOPIC SLEEVE GASTRECTOMY, GASTRIC SLEEVE OR VSG/LSG
- The surgeon permanently removes between 75% to 80% of the patient’s stomach, reshapes the remainder into a sleeve-like pouch that is stapled along the edge.
- The reduced stomach size aids in portion control as well as greatly reduced the production of the hormone ghrelin (this is the hormone that stimulates hunger)
- Sleeve gastrectomy surgery helps a patient lose weight through restrictive techniques but does not make alterations to the digestive system that affect the absorption of nutrients.
- The procedure is not reversible and is often used as the first step of other forms of bariatric surgery.
GASTRIC BYPASS OR ROUX-EN-Y SURGERY
- As in sleeve gastrectomy, about 70% of the patient’s stomach is permanently removed, shaped into a small pouch, and secured along the cut edge with staples.
- Next, the small intestine is cut and rerouted to attach to the lower part of the pouch, skipping much of the small intestine and then connecting further down. This alteration makes changes to the way food is ingested and restricts the absorption of calories.
- Gastric bypass surgery uses both restrictive and malabsorptive techniques. Portions of gastric bypass can be reversed but the surgery is highly risky and is not advised. Gastric bypass surgery can be revised if needed.
DUODENAL SWITCH SURGERY
- Similar to gastric bypass surgery, the duodenal switch combines both restrictive and malabsorptive properties to help patients lose weight.
- The patient’s stomach is made smaller through a sleeve gastrectomy and then similar to gastric bypass the digestive system is altered but in two different locations which creates a more malabsorptive environment than in gastric bypass surgery.
- Duodenal switch is not reversible but is considered the best weight loss surgery when measuring the most significant weight loss in patients.
LAPAROSCOPIC ADJUSTABLE GASTRIC BAND
- Gastric band surgery uses the restrictive technique to help patients lose weight.
- An inflatable band is cinched around the top part of the stomach which divides it into two sections.
- The smaller section becomes the main stomach and the opening between the two sections causes the ingested food to flow very slowly from the top section to the bottom section.
- The patient feels “full” quicker and can not eat as much food due to the smaller stomach size. There is a port implanted under the patient’s skin that will allow the opening between the two sections to be adjusted by inflating or deflating the ring that is positioned around the stomach.
- While considered the safest form of bariatric surgery for several years, it is not widely used by bariatric surgeons today because it yielded inadequate weight loss results and a high rate of long-term complications. By 2015 gastric lap band usage was down to approximately 5.7% compared to the other bariatric surgery choices.
- Gastric band surgery is fully reversible.
How About Fat Freezing or Fat Burning?
CoolSculpting™ (the official name is cryolipolysis) and SculpSure are recurring treatments that promise to either freeze or burn your fat away with the dying fat cells eliminated from your body over time, leaving you with a slimmer figure. Sounds easy, right?
Without going into much detail, we believe that when comparing liposuction and CoolSculpting, liposuction simply yields better results, and the results are more or less immediate vs months of recurring treatment. There are also indications that CoolSculpting, a relatively new technology, can have adverse outcomes that need to be studied some more.
We hope we’ve helped you gain an understanding of your options for belly fat removal. When it comes to unwanted and hard to shed fat on our bodies, belly fat is usually the biggest offender. Even diet, intermittent fasting, and exercise often reach their limits and leave us with that pesky pouch we all loathe.
Surgical Fat Removal Options: What Is the Best Procedure?
Are you having a hard time deciding between the ever increasing number of surgical and non-surgical fat reduction options available?
For most people, the following major factors are considered when decided between the different fat removal procedures available:
- How expensive is the surgery?
- How painful is the surgery?
- Are there any long-term side-effects?
- Is the surgery risky and dangerous?
- Are the results worth my time and money?
- Can I trust my doctor?
These are just some of the questions that patients usually ask before booking a consultation and committing to a procedure.
In the article below we’re going to discuss the following key points to help you determine the best fat removal procedure for you:
- Invasive, minimally invasive, and non-surgical procedures
- The average costs of fat removal procedures
- The average time needed for recovery as well as results
- Fat removal surgery options
Invasive, minimally invasive, and non-surgical procedures
Surgery options are usually divided into three classes or types:
- Invasive procedures
- Minimally-invasive surgery
- Non-surgical
Invasive procedures
Invasive plastic surgery usually means that a procedure involves general anaesthesia, making large cuts and incisions in the area to be treated. Some examples include breast reduction, tummy tuck or abdominoplasty.
These are some disadvantages of invasive surgeries:
- Very painful and stressful for patients. Large cuts and incisions can be very hard on the human body; they can also lead to situations where patients are subjected to a painful and lengthy recovery time.
- Require a lengthy recovery. Large incisions have considerably longer recovery periods in comparison to less invasive procedures. This can affect your daily routine and emotional state due to the long periods of recovery.
- Higher risk of infections. Large surgical cuts carry a higher risk of complications, particularly the possibility of developing an infection of treated area.
Since invasive procedures come with greater risks, it’s no coincidence that there is an increase in availability of minimally-invasive and non-surgical options for those seeking fat reduction treatments and other types of cosmetic surgery.
Minimally-invasive surgery
Unlike invasive surgery, minimally-invasive procedures often involve making smaller incisions or none at all. The cuts can be so fine that they’re hardly noticeable. Additionally, minimally-invasive procedures have several advantages which make them the preferred choice for doctors today.
Here are a few of them:
- Minimal discomfort and pain. The biggest advantage of minimally-invasive surgery is that patients feel virtually no pain during the procedure. Only local anaesthesia is applied to the treated area rather than being subjected to general anaesthesia.
- Fast recovery times. Patients can resume their normal activities and return to life much faster than with invasive surgery.
- Minimal scarring and bruising. Minimally-invasive procedures are gentler and less traumatic to the surrounding tissue. There is much less swelling, scarring and bruising.
- Low risk of infections. As the incisions are small, the problem areas can be addressed with much less risk to patients for developing an infection as compared to invasive surgery.
With medical procedures becoming increasingly modernised in Australia thanks to advances in the cosmetic surgery industry, patients are choosing minimally-invasive options more and more often over invasive liposuction procedures.
Non-surgical procedures
Non-surgical (or non-invasive) procedures have been very popular lately for body contouring and removing excess fat.
Here are some of the advantages of non-invasive surgery:
- No incisions or cuts are needed. The biggest advantage of non-invasive procedures is that stubborn fat deposits can be removed without cutting and with minimal downtime. This is not only safer but also provides a more convenient approach to body contouring.
- No scarring or bruising. Since there are no cuts involved in the process, fatty tissue can be removed without the risk of scarring or infection.
- Body fat is removed naturally. Unlike surgical fat removal procedures where fat cells are suctioned away from the body, fat removal is achieved by your body’s immune system through non-invasive fat reduction.
- Zero downtime and recovery period. After the unwanted fat is removed, you will be able to resume your daily life immediately. This option is ideal for busy individuals who are not able to take time off work or family life.