India ranks third in terms of having obese individuals only after US and China. One in every five Indian is either overweight or obese.

However, the medical science has evolved a lot and so is the treatment procedure to deal with obesity. Weight loss surgery is the failsafe method to resolve obesity that generally lasts a lifetime.

The weight-loss surgery reduces the overall weight by making a permanent change to its digestive system surgically. These surgeries are carried out by either reducing the size of the stomach to limit the amount of food intake or by dissecting and re-routing the small intestine to reduce the nutrient absorption. However, the most effective approach uses both these principles.0

Let’s understand the four most common weight loss procedure-

1. Lap Band

The stomach is tied with a silicone band and divided into a smaller pouch on top, leaving behind the larger pouch in the bottom. The food intake gets stored only in the upper small pouch, thus it restricts the amount of food one can eat. The size of the pouch can be further adjusted by changing the amount of saline water through a port placed under the skin. After desired weight gain is achieved, the band can be removed.

2. Gastric Sleeves

The stomach is resized up to 15% of its original size. The resection is made along the larger curvature of the stomach. The smaller part is then stapled and the larger part is then removed. The reduced stomach size ensures the person consumes the much lesser amount of food.

3. Gastric Bypass

The stomach is divided into a smaller top pouch on top and a larger portion on the bottom. The small intestine is dissected and rerouted in between and it is connected to the smaller stomach pouch. The larger portion of the stomach still produces digestive enzymes, and it meets the semi-digested food in the small intestine instead of the stomach to ensure lesser absorption of nutrients into the body.

4. Duodenal Switch

The stomach is reduced by 25 percent of its actual shape. It is done vertically to obtain a banaba shaped thin stomach. The larger portion of the stomach is stapled and removed. The small intestine is also rerouted and connected to the banana-shaped stomach. The remaining part of the small intestine is left intact as it still produces digestive enzymes. This reduces the overall amount of food intake and ensures less absorption of nutrient by the body.

At Digestive Surgery Clinic, most of the weight-loss surgeries are done by laparoscopic approach.