Almost 70 years ago, medical professionals and specialists started noticing significant weight loss to those who had undergone bariatric surgeries (medical weight loss procedure). Fast forward today and the very same procedures have been changed, modified, developed, tweaked, and refined to fit different needs of different people.

More than a medical surgery, bariatric surgeries are seen as cosmetic surgeries. But even so, doctors still recommend it to help with certain medical conditions. And there is a wide variety to choose from.

Types of Bariatric Surgeries

Different weight-loss surgeries and procedures are common in different places and may also vary from individual to individual. Doctors’ recommendations may also play a big role in choosing a weight loss procedure. Make sure to check with reputed doctors only like Dr. Westmoreland Murfreesboro TN. Here are some of the popular medical weight loss surgeries;

Gastric Sleeve

This is also referred to as Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy. The surgeon removes the most from your midsection or the stomach area and only leaves a banana-shaped section then uses staples to close. This helps in making you full fast and sooner as the doctor reduces the amount of food you can consume. Because some part of your stomach is removed in this procedure, you cannot reverse this type of surgery.

Gastric Bypass

This is one of the most popular types of weight loss procedures. It is also referred to as Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass and goes through three steps; 

• What happens first is that the doctor creates a tiny pouch in your upper midsection by stapling your stomach. With the concept used in Gastric Sleeve, you get to eat less and feel full sooner as the staples make your stomach smaller.
• Secondly, your small intestine gets divided into two; the lower part gets attached to the small pouch created in the first step, directly. This is to make food bypass most of your stomach and the other upper small intestine part, allowing your body to only absorb a few calories. 
• In the last step, the surgeon connects the upper part of your intestines to a new lower location, to allow digestive juices to flow from the upper part of your small intestine to the lower part, to allow full digestion of food.

Adjustable Gastric Sleeve

The surgeon creates a small pouch on the upper part of your stomach by inserting an inflammable band. This makes you eat less and feel full sooner. This band can be adjusted to reduce or increase the size of the pouch created. This also needs some follow-ups to the surgeon to adjust and resize the pouch as fit. 

Advantages of Bariatric Surgery 

While the main purpose of performing this type of surgery is to lose weight, there are many other different benefits that come with these procedures. Some of them are;

• Study shows that people who undergo any form of bariatric surgeries benefit type 2 diabetes long-term remission. This helps them stay free of insulin for a longer time, hence improving their health and relieving them, from related conditions for as long as three years.
• Helps relieve depression and anxiety for most obese people. Because of social stigma and ‘unfit’ body image, people with this condition find it hard to interact with other people and participate in social activities, which may result in isolation and depression.
• People who carry excess weight tend to have joint problems. Sometimes the conditions get severe and cause severe pains and damage. Getting rid of the excess weight would help relieve the joint from all the pain and damage brought about by carrying the weight.