Obesity surgery is probably not “necessary� for any individual, but for the right person, obesity surgery can be a successful treatment and can improve health. A reduced-calorie diet and an active lifestyle with regular exercise are the most important treatments for obesity. Surgery can reduce weight, reduce or eliminate the need for diabetes medicines in some people, and can improve cholesterol. It can improve complications that are associated with excessive weight, such as hypertension or sleep apnea.
Surgery is not an easy way out of obesity. Complications and side effects are possible. Also, surgery for obesity does not enable obese individuals to eat without attention to calories, so it is never used as a replacement for diets. Obesity surgeries that are currently available work by restricting the filling of the stomach or by reducing the efficiency of digestion.
I very infrequently recommend obesity surgery to my own patients, because for most people that I see, basic diet and exercise options have not been maximized.
The National Institutes of Health gathered interested physicians at a “Consensus Conference on Obesity.� This group of physicians felt that surgical treatments for obesity were worth consideration for individuals who had a body mass index (BMI) above 40, or a BMI above 35 if it had already caused an obesity complication (such as obstructive sleep apnea).
