Bariatric surgery can be an enormous benefit to people struggling with morbid obesity and who are searching for a weight loss program. Most importantly, bariatric surgery saves lives. Facts supporting the effectiveness of bariatric surgery as a weight loss tool and as a treatment for obesity-related health conditions grow each month. Recent studies show that bariatric surgery patients are living longer lives. You also can see the benefits of bariatric surgery when you look back on how individual lives have improved.
However, weight loss surgery is major surgery. Although most patients enjoy an improvement in obesity-related health conditions (such as mobility, self-image, and self-esteem) after the successful results of weight loss surgery, these results should not be the overriding motivation for having the procedure. The goal is to live better, healthier, and longer.
It is important to remember that there are no ironclad guarantees in any kind of medicine or surgery. There can be unexpected outcomes in even the simplest procedures. What can be said, however, is that weight loss surgery will only succeed when the patient makes a lifelong commitment.
Weight loss surgery is only a tool. Your ultimate success depends on strict adherence to the recommended dietary, exercise, and lifestyle changes.
The fact remains that morbid obesity is a complex chronic disease. For many patients, the risk of death from not having the surgery is greater than the risks from the possible complications of having the procedure.
That is the key reason that in the last year, approximately 100,000 weight loss surgical procedures were performed. Patients who have had the procedure and are benefiting from its results report improvements in their quality of life, social interactions, psychological well-being, employment opportunities, and economic condition.