Which Weight Loss Surgery Is Right for Me?

You’ve struggled with your weight for a long time. You’ve finally reached the now-or-never point after years of wishing for a solution. You want to plant flowers in the garden, go dancing, walk the neighborhood, or simply play with your children or grandchildren without getting out of breath. 

If you’re considering weight loss surgery, you have options. At Turnquest Surgical Solutions, our board-certified bariatric surgeons offer gastric sleeve, gastric bypass, biliopancreatic diversion/duodenal switch, and revision surgeries. 

We review your medical history, your medications, and questionnaires about your weight loss, and listen to you carefully as you describe your goals. We explain all the surgical weight loss options and review the pros and cons of each. 

We may recommend only one surgical option based on your health and medical conditions. Each case depends on your health profile and specific circumstances. 

Who can receive optimal benefits from gastric sleeve surgery?

Gastric sleeve surgery changes the shape of your stomach from that of a pouch to a slim banana. We remove about 80% of its mass. It’s a bit less involved than gastric bypass surgery. 

Of course, you want to know about weight loss results. You’ll lose about 50% of your excess weight with gastric sleeve surgery. If your body mass index (BMI) is 40 or more, or over 35 with a serious health condition such as heart disease or Type 2 diabetes, this may be a good option for you. 

Because your stomach will be much smaller after weight loss surgery, you won’t be able to consume as much food as you did previously. You’ll need to take some vitamins every day to ensure you’re getting enough calcium, vitamin D, and vitamin B12, but the requirements aren’t that much different than taking regular daily vitamins. 

If you have severe acid reflux, we may recommend another weight loss surgical option. That’s because your stomach would be shaped like a narrow tube instead of a pouch after gastric sleeve surgery, making it easier for food to travel upward toward your esophagus. 

Gastric bypass surgery helps acid reflux

Gastric bypass surgery creates a split in the small intestine. One branch bypasses the first part of the small intestine and connects directly to your much smaller stomach. Your stomach will be shaped like a tiny pouch instead of the slim banana shape that gastric sleeve surgery creates. 

We reattach the other branch of your small intestine to a lower spot; its juices aid in digestion. 

If you’re obese or severely so with a BMI of 35 or above or a BMI over 30 with other conditions related to obesity, we may recommend gastric bypass surgery. You’ll lose a higher percentage of your excess weight — up to 80% versus about 50% with a gastric sleeve procedure.

As we noted above, this is the more appropriate surgery if you have severe acid reflux. We bypass a significant percentage of your stomach, so it doesn’t produce the same amount of acid.

But you must be honest with us if you smoke. We don’t recommend gastric bypass surgery for smokers. Smoking lowers healing of your body tissues. It decreases blood circulation, which normally brings healing nutrients to a wound. 

Nicotine can damage your gastric lining. You could develop hard-to-heal ulcers, and you risk tissue perforation. 

Biliopancreatic diversion/duodenal switch 

This surgical method combines a gastric sleeve procedure with a special bypass. It keeps the top section of the small intestine (the duodenum) intact, and with the duodenal switch, connects the lower part of the small intestine back to the duodenum. 

Do you have Type 2 diabetes that’s poorly controlled? If you have metabolic disease and are extremely obese with a BMI greater than 50, we may recommend the biliopancreatic diversion with duodenal switch procedure. 

When we reroute your intestine, you experience hormonal changes that improve your blood sugar numbers.  You may experience significant weight loss — more than with gastric sleeve or gastric bypass.  

But this surgery requires strict lifelong adherence to a regimen of nutritional supplements. Your body absorbs protein less efficiently, and you may not get enough of certain vitamins crucial for good health. You’re at increased risk of iron-deficiency anemia if you don’t take nutritional supplements as described. 

But if you’re highly motivated and can comply with nutritional requirements, this method is very effective for controlling Type 2 diabetes. 

Call us at Turnquest Surgical Solutions or book an appointment online at one of our two Houston, Texas, offices today.