If you have been thinking about undergoing surgery to treat obesity, you might be wondering, “What is the safest form of weight loss surgery?” These days, most weight loss surgeries are done using a method called laparoscopy, which is much less invasive than traditional open surgery. While it is considered safer, it still comes with some serious risks.
Today, we are going to provide an overview of the different kinds of bariatric surgery and the way they are done, and we will tell you which one is considered the safest weight loss surgery available today. Finally, we will provide you with information about a safer alternative that does not involve surgery but provides results that are virtually the same.
Why Consider Weight Loss Surgery?
Most people are misinformed about obesity and think it is just that the individual is lazy or does not have enough willpower, but the truth is that obesity is a complicated disease that affects how your body uses or stores calories. In many cases, your metabolism fights against all the strategies you are using, negating all of your hard work, despite your efforts to eat healthy and get enough exercise.
In September 2020, an article was published by the American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery that confirmed what many of these people were beginning to figure out and stated that individuals with a BMI of 35 or higher have less than a one percent chance of losing a significant amount of weight without some kind of medical help.
Individuals often consider undergoing weight loss surgery because their doctor tells them if they do not lose weight, their health will completely fail. Many people who suffer from obesity have chronic conditions that are related to their excess weight, and these conditions are responsible for 17% of the deaths that occur in the United States each year. These conditions include:
- Type 2 diabetes
- Heart disease
- High blood pressure
- High cholesterol
- Severe sleep apnea
- Gallbladder disease
- Stroke
- Osteoarthritis
- Several cancers
They also have a greater risk of experiencing issues that limit their mobility, making it harder for them to climb stairs, fit comfortably in most chairs, or take care of their daily responsibilities. These issues often lead to a poor quality of life and subsequent mental health challenges, anxiety, and depression.
Getting rid of even some of their excess weight can lower their risk of premature death due to heart disease by 40%, and they are 92% less likely to succumb to diabetes and 60% less likely to experience cancer.
How Are Bariatric Surgeries Performed?
Bariatric surgeries are done using one of two techniques, including:
Open Surgery
Open surgery is the more traditional method, uses one long incision, and gives the surgeon more room to work and a clearer view, but requires a longer recovery time and has a higher risk of complications.
Laparoscopic Surgery
Laparoscopic surgery is much more common today and is considered the best and safest weight loss surgery technique because it is gentler on the body. Instead of requiring one large incision, the surgeon creates four or five smaller incisions in the patient’s abdomen. This allows a special device with a camera (laparoscope) to be inserted into the stomach and used to help the surgeon visualize their progress as they complete the procedure.
What Is The Safest Weight Loss Surgery?
Gastric Sleeve
Gastric sleeve is the most common type of weight loss surgery and is also sometimes called LSG or VSG. Around 160,000 of these surgeries are done each year, and most are done laparoscopically, which makes gastric sleeve the safest weight loss surgery and the least invasive of all the techniques used.
The surgery involves removing around 80% of the stomach and then reshaping and resizing the portion of the stomach that is left into an elongated narrow tube. The reduction in their stomach size helps them feel full with a smaller amount of food, and it also removes a large portion of the tissue that makes and secretes the hormone ghrelin, which is what makes you feel hungry.
Even though the stomach changes made during gastric sleeve are permanent and cannot be reversed, it is still known as the safest form of weight loss surgery because it does not make any other changes to the digestive system. Recovery can take anywhere from four to six weeks.
Gastric Bypass
Gastric bypass surgery not only reduces the patient’s stomach size, similar tothe gastric sleeve, but a portion of the small intestine is rerouted to bypass a large portion of the intestine and the digestive process. It goes a step further than the gastric sleeve, which only restricts the amount of food the individual can eat, but gastric bypass also limits the number of calories the body has a chance to absorb as it travels down the intestine during digestion. Since it cannot absorb and use all the calories, they can never be turned into fat and cause weight gain.
Gastric bypass surgery comes with more risks and long-term side effects than gastric sleeve, but sometimes, depending on the circumstances, it may be considered the best and safest weight loss surgery for the individual. It takes most patients about six weeks to recover.
Gastric bypass surgery is very challenging and risky to reverse, and most surgeons will advise against it.
Duodenal Switch
The duodenal switch is even more invasive than gastric bypass, but can produce significant and dramatic results. Like gastric bypass surgery, it uses both restrictive and malabsorptive means to promote weight loss using a stomach reduction to limit the amount of food that can be consumed and then altering the digestive pathway to prevent the body from absorbing all the calories consumed.
The duodenal switch goes a step further than gastric bypass in that two portions of the intestine are rerouted instead of just one. This allows the body even less time to process and absorb the calories that are consumed. It is not reversible and has a recovery of about six to eight weeks.
What Is Better Than The Safest Weight Loss Surgery?
If you have been looking for the best and safest weight loss surgery, you are going to want to learn about endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty (ESG) and totally skip undergoing a surgical procedure altogether.
A recently added field of medicine called endobariatrics includes non-surgical procedures that are performed by a gastroenterologist who specializes in performing procedures that help people lose weight. These weight loss procedures are designed for individuals who do not want to undergo surgery or would not qualify for surgery due to their health or a lower BMI.
Endoscopic Procedures that Are Safer Than the Best Weight Loss Surgery
Gastric Balloon
The Orbera balloon is a great tool used for weight loss that looks similar to a balloon and is made from silicone. The doctor uses an endoscope to place the deflated medical balloon in your stomach and fills it with saline solution so it takes up enough space that you get full without having to eat too much. There is no hospital stay involved, and the procedure only takes about 20 to 30 minutes from start to finish.
The balloon stays in your stomach for only six months, during which you receive ongoing support to help you learn and implement healthier lifestyle habits that will help you maintain a healthy weight once the balloon is removed. The balloon does not make any permanent changes to your digestive system and carries far fewer risks than even the best type of weight loss surgery.
Endoscopic Sleeve Gastroplasty
Endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty (ESG) is starting to become more popular and may soon replace gastric sleeve surgery, which has been considered the safest weight loss surgery for years.
ESG helps with weight loss by reducing the size of your stomach by around 70%, but without using any incisions to access your stomach. Instead, the doctor reaches your stomach using a special tool called an endoscope that is lowered down your throat. An endoscope looks like a long, flexible tube with a hollow center and has a camera attached that streams a live-feed video to a monitor that is located by their side.
The doctor lowers a special suturing device down the endoscope to the inside of your stomach and places stitches in strategic places to decrease the size of your stomach and shape it into a small tube-like sleeve.
It only takes about an hour for the doctor to perform ESG, and it is done as an outpatient, so you can go home a few hours later and not have to stay in the hospital overnight.
The weight loss results you can achieve after ESG are very close to what gastric sleeve surgery would offer, but with significantly fewer risks and without the painful and long recovery associated with bariatric surgery. Most patients do not feel pain and are back to their normal routine in around three days.
Recovery After ESG Is Much Faster Than Even The Safest Weight Loss Surgery
Endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty is safer and carries a significantly smaller risk profile than gastric sleeve surgery but still offers very similar weight loss results. In fact, most ESG patients recover so much quicker than those who undergo gastric sleeve surgery that they end up getting an early lead on weight loss. Patients who undergo ESG do not have any activity restrictions after their procedure and can get right back to living their lives as soon as they feel up to it. This is very helpful for many who do not have extended leave benefits at work or have lifestyles where they are the sole caregiver or provider for a dependent.
ESG Offers Amazing Weight Loss Potential
During the ESG clinical trials, most patients lost almost half of their excess weight in just twelve months, which surpassed the target the study researchers had set. The people who took part in the trials also saw major improvements in health issues that were caused by their excess weight. Another thing that was noteworthy is that none of the participants who had the ESG procedure developed GERD, which affects around 40% of the individuals who undergo gastric sleeve surgery.
| Feature | Endoscopic Sleeve Gastroplasty (ESG) | Gastric Sleeve Surgery |
|---|---|---|
| Time to complete procedure | About 45 minutes to an hour | Around 90 minutes |
| Weight‑loss potential | About 20 % of excess body weight lost in 12 -18 months | About 25 % of excess body weight lost in 12 - 18 months |
| Recovery time | Done as an outpatient and you can go home the same day. Recovery takes around 3 days | May require a 1 – 2 day hospital stay, recovery can take between 4 and 6 weeks |
| Is the procedure reversible? | Yes. The sutures can be removed or redone to tighten them up | No. Part of the stomach is permanently removed and cannot be undone |
| Safety profile | Significantly less invasive with a very low risk of complications (under 1 %) | Relatively safe, but overall risk profile is 11.8% with a 2-3% risk of experiencing leaks, bleeding, and other more serious complications |
Where Can I Learn More About ESG As An Alternative To Even The Safest Form Of Bariatric Surgery?
Reveal Weight Loss offers numerous solutions to help with weight loss, including endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty (ESG) in New Jersey as an alternative to bariatric surgery. The experts at Reveal Weight Loss can help you find the right non-surgical weight loss option that will work best for your needs and circumstances.
They will educate and guide you through proven strategies and solutions to keep your weight loss journey on track so you can retain your weight loss results long-term. Having comprehensive support from a team of professionals is important because no matter how you lose weight, keeping it off will require developing and sticking with healthier lifestyle habits every day.
If you are ready to take the next step in your journey to better health, ESG might be your best and safest alternative to weight loss surgery. Book your personal consultation now and let the experts at Reveal Weight Loss create a plan tailored just for you that will help you safely achieve your weight loss goals and maintain your results.
