Types Of Cosmetic Weight Loss Surgeries

Cosmetic weight loss surgery or bariatric surgery is gaining popularity due to increasing knowledge of using cosmetic surgery as a technique for targetted or quick weight loss.

Patients may opt for a cosmetic weight loss surgery out of reshaping their body shape or simply to improve their health and escape from severe obesity.

There are basically three types of cosmetic weight loss surgery :-

There are the restrictive surgical procedures like the lap band surgery to make the stomach smaller and thus limiting food consumption.

Then there are the malabsorptive surgeries to shorten the intestine that comes in contact with food so that the body absorbs less calories from the food consumed.

Finally, there are surgeries that combine both restrictive and malasorptive surgeries.

Restrictive surgeries encourage the patient to lose weight in two ways. Firstly the surgeries reduce the amount of food consumed. The stomach is shrunk by creating a small pouch at the top of where food enters and therefore less food is consumed by the patients. Restrictive weight loss surgery also make patients feel full longer because the lower outlet of the pouch is made smaller so that food empties slowly.

Lap band cosmetic surgery and Vertical banded gastroplasty are examples of restrictive surgeries.

Gastric bypass surgery is a combination both the restrictive and the malabsorptive surgery. This surgery is done by creating a small stomach pouch to restrict the amount of food intake.Then a bypass of the duodenum and other parts of the intestine is constructed to cause malabsorption. Roux-en-Y gastric bypass and Distal Gastric Bypass are examples of the gastric bypass cosmetic weight loss surgery.

What are the health risks of weight loss surgeries?

Health risks are almost the same for both restrictive and gastric bypass surgeries although the risk of nutritional deficiencies for calcium, Vitamin B12 and iron are higherin gastric bypass surgery patients. Intestinal leaking may also occur.

Gastric bypass surgery patients may experienced the "Dumping Syndrome." This is when food moves too fast through the small intestine and the patient may experience nausea, cold sweat, dizzy or fainting spells, weakness and occasionally, even diarrhea.

Patient can opt for the either the traditional open surgery or laparoscopic sugery the latter being that there will be smaller scars as well as less down time since the bariatric surgery patient can recover faster.

As with any form of surgeries, patients must ask their surgeons which for of cosmetic surgery is best suited for them. Before a patient is committed to undergo a weight loss surgery, he must have tried other healthy means to lose weight. A cosmetic weight loss surgery should always be the last option when all other efforts failed to help the patient to reduce weight.

Author: Chris Chew