Obesity

Human body is such that theoritically you can become as fat as you want because the skin has a lot of elasticity. If you consume more calories than what you burn on a daily basis then the extra calories are stored in the body in the form of fat. So if you consume 500 KCal more on a daily basis then in 18 days this becomes 9000 extra Kilocalories which is equal to one kilogram of body weight. What should be your ideal body weight is known through a term called BMI – Body Mass Index. The BMI is calculated by dividing your body weight in kilograms with the square of your height in metres. So if your body weight is 100 kg and the height in meters is 1.83 m then your BMI would be calculated as 100/(1.83 x 1.83) = 29.86 which puts you in the overweight category. A BMI of 20-25 is considered best while 25-27.5 is overweight, 27.5 - 32.5 is obese and above 32.5 is considered as morbidly obese.

If you have a BMI which is in excess of 35 then you are a good candidate for Diabetes, Hypertension, Joint Disease, Cancer, Heart Disease. For people who are so fat, the life itself has no pleasures. Your sexual function will go down and you would not be good for any other activity also. Ideally one must never reach such a stage but if you have neglected your body and reached this stage then help is at hand. Our surgeons will come to your rescue and bring you back to your earlier self before you started to gain weight. The surgeon will reduce the size of your stomach so that it cannot get enough food and once your giant body does not get enough calories it start converting the stored fat into calories and you start losing body fat at a very fast pace. This Surgery is called Bariatric Surgery.

Types of Bariatric Surgery

Bariatric Surgery, also known as Metabolic Surgery is done on people having a BMI of more than 40. The most common bariatric surgery procedures are gastric bypass, sleeve gastrectomy, adjustable gastric band, and biliopancreatic diversion with duodenal switch.

Laparoscopic Sleeve Gastrectomy - In this surgery a part of the stomach is removed and the stomach is shaped as a sleeve. Our surgeon will use the Laparoscope to make 3 tiny holes in the upper torso. A part of the stomach is cut and removed. The rest of the stomach is stitched together using staplers. Now that your stomach is very small it becomes full with very little food. You are going to be discharged from the hospital within 2 days. After the surgery your diet would reduce drastically and you would be given supplements to maintain the nutrition levels. In the weeks after surgery you would be losing body weight of almost 1-2 kg every week. In about 6 months time you would be lighter by almost 25-30 kgs.

With this much of weight loss you might require a tummy tuck surgery in few months time to get rid of the loosely hanging flab. Some of the patients who already have a loosely hanging tummy can get this surgery along with the bariatric surgery.

Best Doctors and Cost

Dr Shamim Ali is one of the most qualified and extensively trained General & Laparoscopic Surgeon for doing Laparoscopic Sleeve Gastrectomy at Umeed Hospital. The cost of Lap Sleeve Gastrectomy at Umeed Hospital is Rs. 2 - 2.5 lacs depending upon the room category chosen. The hospital stay is 2-3 days and the patient is called for followup after 5 days. The patient is called to the hospital for removal of stitches 15 days after the surgery.

Some of the insurance companies may cover this surgery but many of them treat this as a cosmetic surgery procedure and do not cover it. The cost of Bariatric Surgery should not be a barrier for the patient as the cost associated with other diseases like Heart Disease, Brain Disease, Kidney Disease, Joint Replacement which all have their genesis in obesity will be much higher. Obese patients have lesser energy and thus have low productivity resulting in lower income levels. Once the person becomes lighter after the surgery, the productivity goes us and the income levels also rise.

Morbidly obese patients have low libido and lower self esteem. The quality of life is also downgraded due to obesity. There are many benefits to the physical and mental health of the patient after getting this surgery.