Why surgery?
How does weight loss surgery work?
Long-term weight loss
Longer life after weight loss surgery
Obesity is a common disease in the United States and around the world. Surgery can be the most effective treatment when a person is severely obese, like many other medical problems such as heart and kidney disease.
Many obese patients have tried to treat this problem alone with diet and exercise. Many of them have had success, and their weight has returned to normal. Most of the time, patients do not have much success with diet and exercise alone. This is not the result of a lack of will or a wrong diet.
When a patient’s body mass index (BMI) is above 35, the chance of achieving a normal body weight for a long time is less than 1%. This is why surgery is a good option for patients with severe obesity. Unfortunately, many patients who can benefit from surgery do not know if surgery is right for them. Only about 1% of eligible people undergo surgery each year.
Who is a candidate for weight loss surgery?
Weight loss surgery not only treats obesity, but also can treats other conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, arthritis and acid reflux. In addition, surgery greatly reduces the risk of death from cancer, diabetes, heart disease and other diseases.
How does weight loss surgery work?
Weight loss surgery, also called obesity surgery, works by changing the anatomy (or position) of the stomach and small intestine, such as gastric bypass, sleeve gastrectomy, and duodenal replacement. This changes the appetite, satiety (feeling full) and metabolism (how the body burns calories). Many of the hormonal signals that cause weight gain or inability to lose weight are affected by these methods and make weight loss easier. But it still requires a healthy diet and a good exercise program. These methods are a tool for treating chronic disease and cannot work alone.
Long-term weight loss
About 90% of patients lose 50% of their excess body weight after obesity surgery and lose this extra weight for a long time. As patients begin to lose weight after surgery, they also feel energized, less pain, and more eager to do things they have not done in years. Significant and rapid weight loss after surgery can lead to hormone changes and even further reduction. Following an exercise routine can improve weight loss and weight stability after surgery.
Longer life after weight loss surgery
In large scientific studies on hundreds of thousands of patients, weight loss surgery has been shown to reduce the risk of death from any cause by more than 40%. Decades ago, weight loss surgery was risky, and what was achieved was mostly cosmetic. This is completely false. The risk of dying from surgery in the first year after surgery is very low, much like gallbladder surgery. Weight loss surgery also significantly reduces the risk of death from many diseases, including heart disease (40% less), diabetes (92% less) and cancer (60% less). Comparing surgical risks with surgical benefits makes it much easier to make surgical decisions.