About Bariatric Surgery

What is Bariatric Surgery and How Does it Work?

Every successful bariatric procedure helps people lose weight in two ways:

  • Smaller food capacity – every option leaves less space for food
  • Metabolic and hormonal changes to reduce the drive for fat storage

In other words,  bariatric procedures make it easier to become satisfied with a small amount of healthy food.

Sage Bariatric has performed over 15,000 bariatric operations. Our focus every day is to provide optimal bariatric surgical care, helping our patients get back the life they deserve. Sage Bariatric’s comprehensive team, including medical obesity specialists and an obesity-education certified dietitian, work closely with each patient to help them get the best results.

Your surgery is only the first step towards your successful weight loss. Follow-up with our medical team is critical to ensure you maximize your weight loss and that you safely do it . Lab work needs to be done periodically to monitor your nutrition and vitamin levels. Regular post-op visits are necessary to make sure you are on the right track in terms of your diet, exercise, and behaviors. Weight loss surgery is a lifetime journey; not a one-time event.

We look forward to helping you on this journey every step of the way!

Types of Surgery

Currently, there are two basic approaches to weight loss surgery: restrictive operations and operations that combine restriction and malabsorption. Restrictive procedures (such as a adjustable gastric banding and sleeve gastrectomy) simply limit the amount of food that a person can eat at one time. Combination procedures (such as gastric bypass) help give patients the feeling of satisfaction from only a small amount of food and lessen the amount of calories that are absorbed from the food eaten.

Sage Bariatric surgeons perform bariatric procedures using minimally invasive techniques for the least pain, quickest recovery, and best visualization. In fact many of the laparoscopic techniques in use were first pioneered by Dr. Alan Wittgrove, who is the mentor of Sage Bariatrics founder Dr. Sonny Cavazos.

History

Weight loss surgery, or bariatric surgery, was developed in the 1950′s and has been revised over time to be a safe and effective treatment for morbid obesity.  Dr. Alan Wittgrove of San Diego performed the first laparoscopic gastric bypass.  Dr. Wittgrove was the trainer and mentor of Dr. Sonny Cavazos, our medical director. In 2005, an estimated 175,000 people in the United States underwent bariatric surgery, according to the American Society for Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery. That number is increasing every year as more people learn about the benefits of surgery.

Benefits of Bariatric Surgery

Bariatric surgery has proven to be the most successful method for weight loss for patients with severe obesity.  Additionally, bariatric surgery is also responsible for the resolution or improvement of many other serious medical problems. For example:

  • Resolution of Diabetes in 83% of patients
  • 82% risk reduction for cardiovascular disease
  • Gastroesophageal Reflux is resolved in 72-98% of cases
  • 74-98% resolution rate of Obstructive Sleep Apnea
  • Studies show a significant decrease in several cancers
  • Overall, there is a 30-40% reduction in 10-year mortality

Brethauer SA, Chand B, Shauer PR. Risks and benefits of bariatric surgery: Current evidence. Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine 2006; 73:1-15.

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