What is Bariatric Surgery
New Jersey Bariatric Surgery
In past years, Bariatric surgery has been performed as an open procedure where the surgeon creates a long incision, or cut, opening up the patient. However, as medical technology has evolved, laparoscopic or minimally invasive surgery has moved into the forefront. With laparoscopic surgery, the surgeon creates small incisions. Both approaches have similar success rates in reducing excess weight and improving a patient’s health.
Open Bariatric Surgery
When performing open surgery, the surgeon creates a long incision line to open the abdomen and then operates with "traditional” medical tools. The patient’s stay in the hospital will be several days longer than with minimally invasive surgery due to the long incision or cut. In addition, the recovery time is also much longer and patients must take more time to heal before returning to work and regular physical activities. Also, a longer wound increases the chance of wound complications such as infections and hernias. A long incision leads to a long scar. In some cases, the open method is necessary due to some patient-specific risks. To learn about these and other risks, click here.
Laparoscopic Bariatric Surgery
With laparoscopic surgery, a surgeon makes several small incisions for different medical tools to be used. Depending on the surgery, an average of four to six incisions are made. The surgeon then inserts the medical tools including a small video camera through the incisions. A video monitor helps the surgeon to perform the procedure. Most laparoscopic surgeons believe the video monitor gives them a better view and excellent access to key body parts. The benefit of laparoscopic surgery is that many patients are able to recover in a fraction of the time than that of open procedures. Some patients are even able return to work in little more than a week while many are able to quickly return to physical activity and speed up their weight loss. Unlike open surgery, patients who have laparoscopic surgery will have very small scars. There is also a reduced chance of wound complications such as infection and hernia.
