There is a lot of discussion about weight loss options, including surgery. However, how do you know if surgery is the right option for you?
“Our patients usually have a minimum of 70-100 pounds of weight to lose. They often tell us they’ve tried to lose weight their whole lives, and often been able to, but without lasting success, even with diet and exercise. We see adult patients who are ready to make lifelong changes to live a healthier life,” says Becca Karlsdottir, MD, general and bariatric surgeon at Northern Light Surgical Specialists.
Dr. Karlsdottir says that surgical weight loss can help improve patients’ lives and help them avoid serious health problems that are associated with carrying excess weight, such as type 2 diabetes, sleep apnea, and heart disease to name a few.
“Recent studies show this is not just affected by the number on the scale but the hormonal and inflammatory effects of excess fatty tissue. Weight loss surgery, if considered a good option for a patient, can address all these factors,” she says. “If you’re interested in surgical weight loss, we do have a short info session on our website, which gives an overview of our program. We start with a pre-operative visit with our bariatric psychologists for patients before the procedure. We also build in follow up visits with them after surgery as well.”
There are several surgeries that can be performed for surgical weight loss, such as a gastric sleeve or gastric bypass surgery. “Both surgeries decrease the size of the stomach and decrease the amount of food the person can eat and changes their hunger hormones, so they are less hungry. We use a minimally invasive robotic surgery technique that leaves smaller incisions, less pain, and gets our patients up, walking, and drinking liquids the day of surgery, and usually home the following day,” Dr. Karlsdottir says.
For more information, you can visit NorthernLightHealth.org/SWL or give us a call at 973.6383.