Restrictive Procedures
Malabsorptive Procedures that Alter Digestion

Which Is Right for You?

The most important step in weight loss surgery is getting all of the information you need about the various surgical options. Ultimately your surgeon and other physicians are your best resource for information about the procedure they will recommend to you. When you ask a question, make sure you understand the answer. Do not hesitate to ask for a clearer explanation given in simpler language. The decision to have a weight loss surgical procedure may take several visits to their office and consultation with more than one doctor. Ask your doctor for names of other patients who have had similar procedures and who are willing to discuss their experiences, good and bad, with you.

You may choose to research weight loss surgery on your own via the Internet or through your local library. As with any search for medical information, be sure that your sources are responsible recognized experts in the field you are investigating. An excellent resource for weight loss surgery is the American Society for Bariatric Surgery.

Although the results of weight loss surgery can be drastic, there are potential risks and complications. Before making your decision, you should be well informed. These steps are necessary if you are to give what is called "informed consent" for the procedure. Informed consent is a legal term meaning that a patient agrees that they have received and understood enough information about a procedure's benefits and risks to allow them to make a decision that is right for them. Your surgeon will require you to sign a consent form before performing your procedure. Before you sign a consent form, you should have a solid understanding of what is about to take place. You should know what you would need to do to live well after the operation. And you should be aware of the signs or symptoms of complications to look for which may occur after your surgery.

Surgeons first began to recognize the potential for surgical weight loss while performing operations that required the removal of large segments of a patient's stomach and intestine. After the surgery, doctors noticed that in many cases patients were unable to maintain their pre-surgical weight. With further study, surgeons were able to recommend similar modifications that could be safely used to produce weight loss in morbidly obese patients. Over the last decade these procedures have been continually refined in order to improve results and minimize risks. Today's bariatric surgeons have access to a substantial body of clinical data to help them determine which surgeries should be used and why.

Today, the American Society for Bariatric Surgery describes two basic approaches that weight loss surgery takes to achieve change:

1. Restrictive procedures that decrease food intake.
2. Malabsorptive procedures that alter digestion, thus causing the food to be poorly digested and incompletely absorbed so that it is eliminated in the stool.