Are you thinking about obesity surgery? it’s a big step and sometimes called the last chance solution by those undergoing obesity surgery. Many times people choose to undergoe this risky and expensive surgery because they feel that they’ve literally got no other option in order to save their lives.
Obesity surgery often takes one of two forms, stomach stapling and the lap band. In stomach stapling a small portion of the stomach is removed from the rest of the stomach via a stapling tool. It is then attached to a portion of the intestine. Your new stomach is much smaller, only able to hold about a shot glass sized amount of food at a time.
The lap band is often a preferred method for obesity surgery because it it less invasive and can reduce the size of your stomach over time rather than all at once. The band is placed over your stomach just below where food enters from your esophagus. This band has an inflatable ring which the doctor inflates over time to reduce your stomachs capacity. The lap band is also removable if you decide for some reason to no longer make use of the device.
In the case of the lap band there are certain risks. It’s possible for the band to slip out of place, which would require surgery to reposition it. The lap band can also erode the stomach working its way through the stomach wall. If this happens you’ll need to have it removed. Other problems that could require removal of the band are, problems swallowing, the bands hardware breaking or inadvertent damage to the stomach or other organs.
In stomach stapling the problems relate more to the invasive nature of the procedure. Its impossible sometimes to reverse a stomach stapling. Also you loose ‘access’ to parts of your intestine which can limit your body’s ability to absorb many nutrients.