Description: Learn more about the surgical solutions for obesity. Review and compare the various types of bariatric surgery, patient criteria, bariatric diet, and cost of bariatric surgery.
Severe obesity is a chronic medical condition that adversely affects the health and quality of life of many people in the United States. Most of these individuals have made serious attempts to lose weight through diet programs and exercise routines, but the efforts have not been successful in helping them achieve substantial and permanent weight loss.
Obesity is a very difficult disease to treat. If a person is 100 pounds or more overweight, they may not be able to lose the excess weight with diet modifications and exercise alone. For these individuals, surgical treatment for obesity is often considered the most effective weight loss option.
Bariatric surgery, commonly referred to as weight loss surgery, is the surgical treatment of obesity that involves making changes to the digestive system. The changes made to the body will help a person lose weight by either restricting the amount or type of food that can be eaten (a restrictive procedure) or by limiting the amount of food that is absorbed by the body (a malabsorptive procedure).