Types of Weight Loss Surgery

Weight loss surgery should never be entered into lightly. Primarily reserved for individuals who are 100 or more pounds overweight, it is recommended for those that have tried to lose weight through exercise and diet but have been unsuccessful. Your doctor may also consider weight loss surgery if you have less weight to lose if you have a severe case of diabetes, heart disease or sleep apnea. Below are just some of the different types of weight loss surgery that you and your doctor can discuss as a solution.

Adjustable Gastric Band Surgery

This surgical procedure places a small band around the top of the stomach to create a small pouch for the stomach. The size is controlled by a circular balloon inside the band that can be inflated or deflated to meet an individual's needs. The goal is to reduce the amount of food that can be eaten.

Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass

This surgery also places a small band around the top of the stomach. In addition, the digestive tract is changed so that food you eat travels directly from the stomach into the small intestine. The goal is to reduce the amount that you can eat and digest.

Biliopancreatic Diversion With a Duodenal Switch

Having this operation encourages you to eat less because a large portion of the stomach is removed. It also makes changes to the normal process of digestion by allowing food to bypass part of the small intestine. This means that you absorb fewer calories.

Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy

This procedure removes most of the stomach. This decreases the amount of a hormone called ghrelin, one of the hormones that signals you to let you know you are hungry.

Resources

• American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery
• American Society for Bariatric Surgery
• National Institutes of Health for more on weight control information