Who is a bariatric surgeon?

Bariatric surgery is a surgical procedure performed to cause weight loss by restricting the amount of food the stomach can accommodate. It is carried out with an aim to cause malabsorption of nutrients and gastric restriction. A bariatric doctor is a physician who performs bariatric procedures and helps his or her patients to cope with obesity.

What does a bariatric surgeon do?

Bariatric surgeons treat patients whose body mass index is 30 or higher. Bariatric doctors often treat obese patients with diet, nutrition, behavioral therapy, exercise, appropriate medications, surgery or any combination of these methods.

What kind of surgeries does a bariatric surgeon performs?

• Gastric bypass is one of the most common types of bariatric surgery in the world. It is done when diet and exercise haven't shown you any results or when you have serious health problems because of your weight. Roux-en-Y gastric bypass or simply called gastric bypass is a type of weight-loss surgery that involves creating a small pouch from the stomach and connecting the newly created sack directly to the small intestine. After gastric bypass, swallowed food goes into this small pouch of the stomach and then directly into the small intestine, whereby bypassing most of the stomach and the first section of the small intestine.
• Laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding: In the laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding procedure, a band containing an inflatable balloon is put encompassing the upper part of the stomach and fixed in place, creating a small stomach pouch above the band with a very narrow opening to the rest of the stomach, restricting the amount of food that your stomach can hold, making you feel full sooner.
• Sleeve Gastrectomy: A section of the stomach is separated and removed from the body and the remaining section of the stomach is formed into a tubelike structure.

What are the diseases treated by a bariatric surgeon?

Bariatric surgery is performed to treat obesity, but it can also treat several other diseases such as:  

• Gastroesophageal reflux disease.
• Heart disease.
• High blood pressure.
• Severe sleep apnea.
• Stroke.
• Type 2 diabetes.

Who should visit a bariatric surgeon?

• A person with a body mass index (BMI) of 40 or higher
• Someone with BMI 30 or more and has a serious weight-related health problem like type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, or severe sleep apnea
• A teenager who's gone through puberty and his BMI is 30 or more and has serious obesity-related health problems like type 2 diabetes or severe sleep apnea.
• A person whose efforts to lose weight with diet and exercise have been unsuccessful.