Weight loss surgery, commonly known as bariatric or metabolic surgery, entails changing the digestive system to make it easier to lose weight. These procedures are usually reserved for patients with obesity so severe that they haven’t been able to lose significant weight with diet alone or the very restrictive diet they have been living on.

Types of Weight-Loss Surgeries

• • Gastric Bypass (Roux-en-Y): This is a surgery that restricts the amount of food that enters the stomach slowly and bypasses a large part of the stomach and duodenum. Additionally, a small pouch, which is a small pouch from the stomach, is created and then connected directly to the small intestine. The effect is that much of the food passes through the lower digestive parts and only a little of it actually enters the stomach.

• • Sleeve Gastrectomy: The resection of the stomach that is about 80%, leaving a tubular stomach with a slim and long shape like that of a banana, is a sliver gastrectomy.

• • Adjustable Gastric Band: It is a method of weight loss surgery in which a band is inserted through a small incision in the stomach and then inflated above the band to create a small pouch.

• • Biliopancreatic Diversion with Duodenal Switch: The biliopancreatic diversion with duodenal switch is a two-part operation. In the first stage, a sleeve gastrectomy is performed following which the other surgery is the bypassing of a larger part of the intestine.

How These Surgeries Work

These surgeries aid weight loss by:

• • Limiting the capacity of the stomach to hold food.

• • Reducing nutrient absorption.

• • Producing hormones that change how much you want to eat.

Each type of the surgery offers a unique set of advantages and challenges, depending on a patient’s specific health conditions, weight loss goals, and the doctor’s prescription.