Surgical Treatment for Obesity

Weight-loss surgery, also called bariatric surgery, is the only option today that may effectively treat morbid obesity in people for whom more conservative measures such as diet, exercise, and medication have failed.

A variety of approaches to bariatric surgery is available, but all procedures are either malabsorptive, restrictive, or a combination of the two. Malabsorptive procedures change the way the digestive system works. Restrictive procedures are those that severely reduce the size of the stomach to hold less food, but the digestive functions remain intact.