Bariatric weight loss surgery is any surgery performed on your stomach with the intention of forcing a weight loss. There are several different procedures that can bring this intention to fruition and some are obviously better than others and some are safer than some of the others.
Which surgery should you choose? This is for you and your Bariatric Doctor to work out but you need to know first what your options are so you are in a better position to discuss them in thorough detail with your Doctor first.
Whichever method you decide on will probably be with you for the rest of your life so be sure to choose wisely. I made my choice 5 years ago and I’m very happy with my decision. So I hope you are able to feel as comfortable with your decision after five years as I am. But I did do my ‘homework’ like you are probably doing now by reading this.
Gastric Bypass is also known as Biliopancreatic diversion. This is probably the most radical of the procedures and once done, cannot be undone. It is irreversible.
The Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) is the next most radical procedure and one that is also irreversible.
The laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (LAGB) or as it is more commonly called today, lap banding, is the preferred option for many bariatric surgeons in Australia today and by their patients.
This is because LAGB is the least invasive, easiest to live with, adjusts easily to individual needs, is a permanent physical barrier to help with weight loss and maintenance and if it was ever necessary, it is reversible.
Anytime a surgeon doesn’t have to cut anything apart there is a better chance of going back to ‘normal’. And as the LAGB is inserted laparoscopically there is nothing that gets ‘disconnected’ in the process.
Bariatric weight loss is easier with LAGB but it is still just a tool. How we use that tool is up to us.
