Learn The Facts About 4 Popular Weight Loss Surgery Rumors
Intestinal bypass surgery, the removal of all but 12 inches of the small bowel, was introduced in the 1950s. The weight loss surgery presented patients with serious nutrition problems, and was finally abandoned in the 1970s.
Luckily, we’ve come a long way since then and patients now have more than one option for surgical weight loss. Unlike root canals, these surgeries tend to stir up a great deal of speculation, uncertainty and even nonsense in the public consciousness.
In this article we will help you to discern the facts from the myths regarding two of the most popular types of weight loss surgery: laparoscopic gastric banding and gastric bypass.
The decision between the two is different for every patient; it’s something you must be committed to working out with your physician. Many surgical facilities, like Piedmont General Surgery Associates in Rock Hill, SC offer both kinds of surgery.
LAP-BAND® is less effective than gastric bypass: True
Patient reviews have generally shown a higher rate of success for Roux-en-Y gastric bypass than laparoscopic. A recent study actually found that bypass patients lost 64 percent of their excess weight in the first year, and 34 percent for people who chose Lap-Band.
Sometimes the band used in the procedure can fail to work the way it is supposed to. Gastric banding is still the second most common weight loss surgery according to WebMD.com.
Gastric Bypass is more invasive than LAP-BAND®: True
By its very nature, gastric bypass is far more invasive than Lap-Band. There are varying methods of bypass surgery, but they are all built around cutting the stomach permanently (the surgery can be reversed, but is complicated and generally not recommended) and re-arranging the small intestine. Lap-Band Surgery is just as it sounds: a totally reversible surgery in which a silicone band placed around a portion of the stomach.
Weight loss surgery doesn’t change anything: False
Both types of popular weight loss surgery make radical changes to the way your body processes nutrients. Most obviously, there’s a definite shift in the amount of food you want and are able to consume. Gastric bypass has a bigger impact on this, given its effect on ghrelin and other hormones, which control hunger.
There are many unavoidable effects that the surgery presents that allow you to be set you up for drastic weight loss. Most notably, the surgery requires that you change your entire perspective on food and eating, so that you can focus on food as fuel rather than a source of comfort of fulfillment.
Weight loss surgery is an easy way to lose weight: False
Whether you chose Lap-Band or gastric bypass, you cannot expect the surgery to solve all your problems by itself. Weight loss surgery should be viewed as a tool to assist you in a series of lifestyle changes that will get you down to a healthy weight. Weight loss surgery is still surgery, and therefore has a risk of complications and adverse reactions. For that reason, it is not a decision that should be taken lightly.
It can be an expensive procedure and patients often experience short term success, but long-term success requires dedication. This type of life change is for people who are ready and committed to adjust the core parts of their day-to-day operations and live a healthier life overall.
