Obesity

Bariatric Surgery – Advantages & Complications

Bariatric surgery (weight loss surgery) includes a variety of procedures performed on people who have obesity. Weight reduction is achieved by reducing the size of the stomach with a gastric band or through the removal of a portion of the stomach (sleeve gastrectomy or biliopancreatic diversion with duodenal switch) or by resecting and re-routing the small intestine to a small stomach pouches (gastric bypass surgery). For obese patients, surgical intervention is an option and is frequently the treatment of choice. Non-surgical Weightloss techniques use laser energy, radiofrequency, ultrasound or cold (cryo lipolysis) to reduce fat. Although the fat loss is more subtle with non-surgical lipolysis techniques compared to surgical liposuction, non-surgical lipolysis techniques have several advantages including reduced risk, reduced cost, and reduced healing time. Plastic surgery can play a very important part relative to rapid weight loss.  It is already well known that fat pads can be removed either by aesthetic or plastic surgery. More recently, surgeons have been exploring methods of plastic reconstruction after massive weight-loss, such as that obtained after digestive surgery. Bariatric surgeons should be aware that some of their patients will need heavy and painful reconstructive procedures. After common plastic surgery procedures, obese patients have more complications and make more hospital visits-leading to higher healthcare costs.