Weight Loss Surgery: Do The Benefits Outweigh the Risks?

Maybe you’ve been watching one too many episodes of medical reality TV and you’ve become consumed by horror stories of the ER.  Or maybe your family is worried about you going into a surgery they conceive as purely cosmetic.  Whatever your excuse has been, now is the time to set the record straight.  Weight loss surgery may be the path set before you and you’ll be happy to know that the benefits do in fact outweigh the risks.

How can we be so sure? Well, the risk of major long term complications post-weight loss surgery is less than 1%. It’s riskier to continue on in your current lifestyle than to take the leap and commit to surgery.  There is a higher chance of death due to diabetes or high blood pressure or heart disease than there is the chance of death on a surgical table.  We have patients come into our office all the time with the same vein of thought.  The lifestyle risks continue to prove themselves even weightier than the surgical risks.  “I can’t even tie my shoes” or “I can’t walk up the stairs” are musings we hear often.  Changing these outcomes is possible with weight loss surgery.

So what about those benefits we mentioned? Let’s look beyond the cosmetic benefits and dig deeper into the lifestyle issues we listed above.  There is obviously the benefit of overall improved health. As a result of weight loss surgery, patients can stop taking so much of their diabetes or blood pressure medications.  In turn, lifestyle costs are significantly decreased.  The cost of medication, food and doctor visits are dramatically reduced due to improved health and smaller appetites.  In the long run, we believe the cost of your weight loss surgery will pay for itself in the many ways you will be saving money throughout your daily routine.

If you’ve been toying around with the idea of weight loss surgery, we’d love to talk to you.  We pride ourselves in patient care and personal attention.  Give us a call and we can talk through the benefits of this surgical procedure in person!