Eligibility

You may require bariatric surgery if:

  • You are very overweight
  • Have tried and struggled to lose weight by dieting and exercise
  • Your doctor suggests it as an option to help with weight loss
  • You have a serious weight-related health problem, such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure or suffer from sever sleep apnoea

Every individual may require a different type of surgery based on different levels of health and eligibility. Your doctor will conduct detailed tests and assessments to conclude which type of surgery is best for you.

Pre-surgery:

In preparing for the surgery, a patient may be given a meal replacement plan leading up to the surgery. The individual will be required to fast the night before to ensure the stomach is empty and prepared for the surgery. Your doctor will provide you with any further specific details about the surgery, such as changes to medications and diet. 

Post-Surgery:

Following the procedure, a patient will only be allowed liquid foods, and eventually pureed food. It will be a few weeks before the individual will be able to eat solid foods. A dietitian will also provide guidance on what to eat and how to maintain healthy eating habits to continue losing weight after the surgery. Increasing physical activity will also be required on top of a healthy diet to continue losing weight and keeping it off.

Post-surgery, the patient will feel fuller after only eating a small amount of food, which in turn, decreases their calorie intake and promotes weight loss.

Lap Band Surgery:

This procedure involves placing a ring-shaped band around the top part of the stomach, slowing the rate at which food enters the main part of the stomach. The band used in this procedure contains salt water, giving the ring flexibility in how large or small it is by injecting or removing salt water from it.

Other names for this procedure include laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding, gastric banding, or the LAP-BAND system.

The procedure is done under general anaesthetic, and depending on the individual, they may require you to stay for just the day, or spend one or two nights in hospital for recovery.

Keyhole surgery is used in this process, where the surgeon will make a number of small cuts into the patient’s skin and muscles that cover the stomach area. They then place the small, ring-shaped band around the top part of the stomach where food enters, creating a small pouch. A small tube, sometimes called a port, is placed under the skin of the abdomen, connecting to the band. This allows salt-water in the band to be added or removed.

The band will need to be adjusted possibly several times after the surgery by your doctor to find a suitable size that fits you, factoring in how you feel and your weight loss. During the adjustment, you will not require any anaesthesia.

 

Gastric Bypass Surgery:

This process involves decreasing the size of the stomach, and changing the way the stomach and small intestine absorbs food.

This surgery is performed whilst a patient is under general anaesthetic and will most likely require them to remain in hospital for 3-5 days to recover and be monitored. In most cases, the surgery is performed via keyhole procedure, but in some cased, open operation is required.

During the surgery, staples are placed at the top of the stomach where food enters into, creating a small pouch. This pouch is attached to the lower part of the small intestine using stitches, so that the food you eat bypasses majority of the stomach and the first part of the small intestine. The new pathway makes individuals feel fuller after only eating a small amount of food, meaning that they eat less food and less food will be absorbed by the body.

After the surgery, you will need to take vitamin and mineral supplements for life to replace those normally absorbed in the first part of the small intestine.

 

Gastric Sleeve Surgery:

This process involves decreasing the size of the stomach by removing a large part of it.

The surgery is performed using keyhole surgery whilst a patient is under general anaesthetic. The surgeon will section off a small, tube-like or ‘sleeve’ sized segment of the stomach by using a stapling device, and then, the remaining portion of the stomach will be removed. Post-surgery, the patients new stomach size sill be a tenth of what it used to be.

The meals you will eat long after surgery will be much smaller than what you used to be able to consume, and you may also find that you don’t become hungry as often as you used to. You may also be required to take vitamins and other supplements for life.