The case for surgery

The days where overweight people reconciled themselves to a fate of discomfort and potentially life-threatening sicknesses triggered by obesity are over.

With medical technology advancing every minute of the day, there are a range of options which can knock off that fat quite literally. Plastic surgery has re-invented the approach towards weight loss combining crash diets and exercise regimes with surgeries which will help those who have reduced considerably look it instead of just feel it.
Bariatric surgeries have given many overweight patients a fresh lease on life. These surgeries go to the root of the obesity problem as opposed to liposuction which simply siphons fat out from beneath the skin. Bariatric surgery has many procedures which involve adjusting the proportions of the stomach organ to influence appetite and eating habits. Doctors may choose adjustable gastric banding whereby a band is placed around the opening leading to the stomach. This is then adjusted to control how much food the stomach can handle comfortably. Another procedure is the gastric bypass surgery whereby the size of the stomach is permanently reduced to a smaller size which is then given a separate route to the small intestine. This means that the amount of food is dictated by the size of the pouch. These procedures play a more direct role in modifying eating habits of overweight people rather than psychologically attuning them to the idea which may take much longer.
However, such surgeries do have their drawbacks. Many patients are surprised when they find that although they feel lighter, they don’t necessarily look lighter. After all their fat has gone, the skin that supported it still remains. Symptoms of these are seen everyday by those who find the skin beneath their arms sagging or rolls in their stomach. This requires a different set of plastic surgeries which help ‘contour’ the body. And these don’t concentrate solely on the areas which need extensive nip-tucking. Well-qualified surgeons will look at the big picture and balance out the rest of the body so that patients who have just had a tummy tuck won’t look disproportionate by having overweight thighs and buttocks.
However, plastic surgeons around the world are asking for a clear-cut distinction between their specialist services and those offered by general surgeons, who will not be familiar with the finer nuances of contouring surgeries for overweight patients. General surgeons may offer a standard abdominal contouring procedure to all patients — normal and overweight. Plastic surgeons warn that this may lead to extensive scarring as it is a short-cut to a shapely body.
The number of obese patients wanting bariatric surgeries is increasing but plastic surgeons warn that it should not be treated lightly. Its effect will only be maintained with a strict diet and an exercise regime.