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ShareBariatric surgery isincreasingly popular with the young for inducing weight loss
Riddhima, a 28-year-old executive at a suburban hospital, is out to test the elasticity of the human body. At 86 kg, she plans to go for gastric banding, a procedure that will reduce the size of her stomach and thereby her food intake by tying a band around her stomach.
At a later stage, the band may be removed at will, just as one would unwind a balloon twisted in the middle.
Bariatric surgery, also termed 'obesity surgery', involves a series of operations conducted to induce weight loss. In this age of lifestyle diseases, this procedure is becoming increasingly popular. "Of late, the number and age of people who need this intervention has shot up," said Dr Shashank Shah, a laparoscopic and bariatric surgeon at Ruby Hall clinic and Wockhardt hospital, at a press meet on Saturday.
There are different types of obesity surgery such as gastric banding -- tying up the stomach into two, gastric bypass -- bypassing the upper part of the small intestine, and a sleeve gastrectomy.
Dr Shah, who claims to have done 150 bariatric procedures over four years, says surgery is not advised until conventional options don't work. "We recommend surgery only if the person is morbidly obese which is defined by a body mass index of 33," he says. Before surgery, the patient is put on a low calorie diet and asked to perform breathing exercises to reduce the chances of medical disorders.
"Two weeks prior to the surgery, the patient is evaluated and methods to optimise his condition are devised," says Dr Shah. One such patient is 31-year-old Sachin Kher. Weighing 132 kgs, Kher was earlier turned away by an obesity surgeon because he had IVC thrombosis.
Now a mean 76 kg, he says, "To reduce the risk, I had to take a lot of pre-operative care by doing yoga and maintaining my diet.''
Though, many patients may end up taking calcium and B-complex supplements for life. Dr Shah blames this largely on a faulty lifestyle. Pune-based transporter, Rakesh Shah, managed to reduce his weight from 127 kgs to 88 kgs but developed protein deficiency which was corrected in time. "I used to feel weak and lethargic but some protein supplements given by Dr Shah took care of that," he says.
The biggest advantage for patients is the freedom from obesity-related health problems such as Type II diabetes, hypertension and hormonal imbalances as well. "Most patients recover from Type II diabetes," says Dr Shah.
Rakesh Shah, for instance, is no longer hypertensive while Riddhima, who developed obesity after some hormonal treatment, is hoping her hormonal systems will get harmonised after surgery.
