Across the world, there are one billion overweight individuals and 300 million of them are considered to be morbidly obese.  Most overweight people go on crash and fad diets, and end up gaining all of their weight back – if they have lost any at all. Many of these people eventually opt to have one of the three main types of weight loss surgery available, in order to put an end to their weight struggles once and for all.  Although all types of weight loss surgery are different, each is performed with the same purpose – to reduce the stomach’s size in order to restrict the amount of food consumed.

Before any of these types of weight loss surgery is performed, the patient will need to have various tests run.  Some of these tests include blood pressure, blood sugar, electrocardiogram, urinalysis, and chest x-ray.  To be eligible, the patient usually must be 100 pounds overweight, with a BMI of 35 or higher, and experiencing one or more of the following weight related medical issues: hypertension, high blood pressure, diabetes, or sleep apnea.

When it comes to the different types of weight loss surgery, Americans today have a lot of options.  Vertical Band Gastroplasty is a surgical procedure that divides the stomach into two parts by using staples.  The bottom part of the stomach stays fairly large, while what is left makes up the upper portion.  The smaller part holds the eaten food and is slowly let into the larger part through a reduced passageway between the two.  One of the more serious side effects from weight-loss surgeries like this one stems from the use of staples. Staples can become infected from leaking stomach juices if the stomach is not properly closed; however, the risk is very small – around 6%.

Lap band surgery is one of the other types of weight loss surgery that divides the stomach into a small and large portion just as with the vertical band gastroplasty.  However, instead of stapling between the two parts of the stomach, the surgeon will input an inflatable band that can be adjusted with the use of saline injected into the valve of the band.  Experts say that band types of weight loss surgery can have fewer complications. When complications do occur, they  most often in the form of nausea and heartburn.

The final type of weight loss surgery is called Biliopancreatic Diversion, or BPD.  During BPD, a good portion of the stomach is completely removed.  What remains will be kept attached to a specific part of the small intestine, allowing other small intestinal parts to be bypassed, and the gastric juices from the stomach to mix with the consumed food before it makes its way into the colon.  Since there is less gastric juice, the amount of food that can be digested is decreased.  The major side effect from Biliopancreatic Diversion is the lack of proper nutrients being absorbed into the body; however, this is still one of the most popular types of weight loss surgery; almost one million people in the United States have had BPD to date.