Types of Weight Loss Surgery

There are many different weight loss surgery options that are available. Generally, a person will only be considered a candidate for most weight loss surgeries if they are morbidly obese and have more than one hundred pounds to lose.

How Surgical Weight Loss Works

Many people know that there are several weight loss surgery procedures, but often they do not understand how these surgeries work. Additionally, they often become confused with the different surgery types, and may believe they all work the same. This is in fact not true, as different types of weight loss surgery work in different ways. Depending on the type of the surgery, weight can be lost in three different ways.

Restriction Procedures

Some surgeries work by restricting the amount of food the body is able to intake. Restriction weight loss surgeries include LAP-BAND® System surgery, laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy, and gastroplasty. Restrictive weight loss surgeries work by decreasing food intake. They are some of the most commonly used weight loss surgical procedures.

Malabsorption Procedures

Malabsorption weight loss surgeries make changes to the digestive tract, which cause food that is ingested to be digested poorly. In doing so, the amount of fat this is digested and absorbed by the body is limited, so even if a person eats a large amount of food, they still do not gain weight from the food. These methods of weight loss surgery include the jejunoileal bypass, biliopancreatic diversion, and duodenal switch.

Combination Procedures

Finally, there are weight loss surgeries that combine components of the restriction and malabsorption methods. Roux-en-Y gastric bypass is a popular combination of the two types of surgeries that helps patients primarily achieve weight loss through restrictive techniques, but with a small component of malabsorption.