Weight loss surgery

It seems impossible–weight-loss surgery that leaves no scar…at least no scar that can be seen.

Existing laparoscopic surgical techniques have come close. Great advances in minimally invasive bariatric surgery have led to techniques for LAP-BAND and REALIZE gastric band surgery that are conducted through just 5 or 6 small incisions.

Advances in weight-loss surgery techniques hold out increased hope for the many thousands of people who struggle every day with the health consequences of being overweight. Particularly encouraging is the trend toward the development of safer incisionless procedures.

The weight loss surgeries most often done today are the lap band and the gastric bypass or the sleeve gastrectomy.

In the lap band nothing is rearranged - they just put a sort of belt around your stomach. This is supposed to make it uncomfortable to eat more than a bit at a time.

Gastric bypass surgery has been a very successful approach to helping severely overweight patients lose the weight they need to stay healthy. Even though the procedure will enable the patient to eat less and still feel full, the overall success of the program relies on the surgery, and a post-operative regiment of diet and exercise to actually lose the weight.

Weight-loss surgery techniques have made great progress since the early days, when as many as 50 percent of patients experienced complications and frequently needed repeat or “revisional” surgery after the initial procedure. But even with the strides that have been made in surgical methods, it’s still true that not all bariatric surgery leads to immediate or long-term success.