If you’ve opted for bariatric surgery in the form of a gastric sleeve, you may be wondering what all that entails. We give you the skinny on what to expect after a sleeve gastrectomy.
You’ve tried everything. You’ve dieted and exercised, to no avail. You’ve had weight loss surgery, but those pounds are back. What happened? Well, in short, life happens. A study in Canada found that 27% of weight loss surgery patients needed further surgery to achieve and maintain their goals. There are as many different reasons why a weight loss surgery fails as there are people who suffer. In some cases, you may experience significant weight loss in the beginning, but then it slowly stops, and you begin to gain weight back. In other cases, you may keep the weight off until age slows your metabolism and your weight creeps back up.
But the good news is that Dr. Chengelis has a wide range of options that he can perform laparoscopically. That means, instead of a large incision, he can perform surgery leaving only tiny scars behind. Not only is this more attractive, but it also means less risk and a faster healing time. Let’s look at some options open to you.
This is a band that Dr. Chengelis fits around a portion of the stomach. You lose weight because you don’t have the ability to overeat. The gastric band is stitched to the stomach, making your stomach smaller. A thin tube leads to a port that he stitches just under the skin of your stomach. This port allows Dr. Chengelis to tighten or loosen the band based on your particular needs without further surgery. This type of revision surgery can help you lose those pounds gained after your original surgery.
Like the gastric band, this surgery also helps you lose weight by restricting the amount of food you can eat. In this procedure, Dr. Chengelis removes a portion of your stomach. Traditionally, your stomach is shaped like a pouch. This allows your stomach to hold food that you eat and begin to digest it with enzymes and acid. But the larger that pouch, the more food, and calories, you can consume.
In the laparoscopic gastric sleeve, Dr. Chengelis removes a portion of your stomach. This reshapes the pouch into a tube. This reduces the amount of food you can eat, and it prevents the stomach from beginning the digestion process. So, when the food enters the small intestines, your body can’t absorb as much. The less you can absorb, the fewer calories you must work off.
This is the most complex of the weight loss revision surgeries Dr. Chengelis offers. In this surgery, he removes a portion of the stomach to make it more difficult to overeat. Like the gastric sleeve, this surgery also prevents the food from staying in your smaller stomach and digesting, reducing the amount of usable calories your body can absorb when it reaches your small intestine. But this is where your weight loss gets even more help. In this method, Dr. Chengelis surgically bypasses a portion of the small intestine. This reduces the amount of time your body has to absorb nutrients. Whatever your body doesn’t absorb, you simply eliminate. This doubles the way your body reduces calories: by reducing the amount you can eat, and by reducing the amount your body absorbs.
The best news is that you don’t have to decide on your own. If you have tried weight loss surgery in the past and still struggle with extra pounds, contact Dr. Chengelis. Together you can go over your past procedures and talk about what did and didn’t work for you. Then, he will discuss how best to approach your new process.
Whatever the two of you decide, Dr. Chengelis will work with you until you achieve your weight loss goals and maintain a healthy weight.
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