What is Bariatric Surgery?

 

Understanding Bariatric Surgery

Thinking through your bariatric surgery options

You’ve heard about bariatric surgery, but you’re not sure if it’s right for you. Here is some helpful information for you to consider as you think through your weight loss surgery options.

What is bariatric surgery?

Bariatric surgery, also known as weight loss surgery, is performed to treat the medical condition known as morbid obesity. Morbid obesity is defined as a weight of 100 pounds or more over an ideal weight (based on height) and a body mass index (BMI) of 40 or more.

Morbid obesity is often the root cause of other medical conditions (also called co-morbidities) like hypertension, diabetes, sleep apnea and joint disease. The term “morbid obesity” comes from the probability that individuals with this medical condition will die earlier than their healthier peers.

Sometimes, these ‘co-morbidities’ are present in patients with a BMI of 35-39. Weight loss surgery can also help resolve these conditions. If your BMI is closer to this range, and you have high blood pressure, diabetes, sleep apnea or heart disease be sure to meet with a bariatric surgeon to understand your options.

Why should I have weight loss surgery?

Obesity affects over two-thirds of American adults. Of those people, 15% are afflicted with the chronic disease of morbid obesity.

Morbid obesity is a much more serious condition than just being overweight. Morbid obesity presents myriad serious health conditions. Stop telling yourself that morbid obesity is simply caused by a lack of willpower -- it is a very complex disease with a combination of causative factors such as genetics, environment and individual psychology.

There are many social, economic, emotional and quality-of-life implications of morbid obesity, as well. After weight loss surgery, our patients report improvements in these areas of their lives, as well as significant improvements in their health.

Is bariatric surgery the only effective long-term treatment for morbid obesity?

Bariatric surgery is the most effective therapy available for morbid obesity and can result in improvement or complete resolution of obesity co-morbidities. Most individuals seeking weight loss surgery have previously tried to reach and maintain a healthy weight through diet, exercise and medications. Diet and exercise programs alone are not effective for lasting weight loss.

In fact, weight loss through just dieting is met with a slowdown in metabolism and an increase in both appetite and desire for food. This makes it almost impossible to maintain weight loss with diet and exercise alone. Bariatric surgery provides a tool for long-term weight loss by introducing other supportive factors like restricting how much food you eat and how you feel after eating the wrong foods.

In 1991, the National Institutes of Health endorsed surgery for the treatment of morbid obesity. Since that time, the American Heart Association, the International Diabetes Foundation and the American Diabetes Association have issued statements affirming the effectiveness of bariatric surgery.

In 2012, the New England Journal of Medicine published two studies attesting to the effectiveness of weight loss surgery options in the treatment of Type 2 diabetes, finding it more effective than treatment with medication.

What are my weight loss surgery options?

Barix Clinics offers all weight loss surgery options covered by insurance with a proven track record of helping patients lose weight and keep it off.

These weight loss surgery options include:

Laparoscopic surgery, or minimally invasive surgery, was first used in the 1990s. Instead of one larger incision, several smaller incisions are used for surgery. The benefits of laparoscopic weight loss surgery options are lower complication rates, less discomfort and a much shorter recovery period.

Find out if weight loss surgery is right for you

Barix Clinics is the national leader in bariatric surgery options, offering surgically-based solutions to help you enjoy a whole new healthy life free of your excess weight.

If you are ready to learn more about your weight loss surgery options, call us today at 800-311-8545 or complete and submit the form at the top of the page. One of our patient service representatives will be happy to provide you with additional information about bariatric surgery options or schedule a consultation with one of our highly skilled bariatric surgeons.

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Use our BMI calculator to see if you qualify for weight-loss surgery.

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