Till about a few decades earlier one only heard of diet and exercise as the techniques for losing weight. However, in todays body conscious world various methods, techniques, drugs etc have come in the picture that claim to give you a body shape you always desired to have. People no longer have qualms of going under the knife to get the body of their dreams. So how safe are such surgical treatments and do they actually last?

When we talk about surgical weight loss treatment there are a number of options:

1. Lap-band surgery: In this surgical treatment the surgeon uses a prosthetic devise known as the lap-band and separates the stomach into two parts. The lap-band is actually similar to a ring and forms a pouch like structure in the stomach. The bigger part of the stomach stays below the smaller part that was formed using the lap-band. The smaller stomach created by the lap-band reduces your appetite as you would now feel full faster as the net capacity of the stomach has been reduced. This reduced appetite would help you lose weight effectively. The science behind this surgery is to make the person feel satiated faster and keep feeling full for longer durations. This surgery is generally recommended for people who are abnormally obese and for those for whom their food intake is enormous. Also this surgery is generally recommended only if your excess weight is posing to be a life threatening problem for you.
2. Gastric Balloon surgery: This is also one of the renowned weight loss surgeries that use a premium quality silicon balloon, placement tube and filling system. This balloon is inserted in the stomach by surgery and the objective of the balloon is to make you feel satiated soon and thereby reduce your appetite significantly. Apart from satiating your appetite it also gives you the impression of having a full stomach for longer periods thereby increasing the gap between two meals. The best part about this surgery is that it is an out-patient surgical procedure that takes not more than half an hour. Just a few hours of rest post the surgery and you would be sent home by the end of the day. The first week the patient is put on a liquid diet with high water intake. Thereby the dietician advises you on how to plan your meals for the day that include solids too. You should be prepared for a 6 month regime of a diet program after inserting the balloon. You would be offered proper training and guidance by a team of experts who would track your weight, diet, progress, regime with diligence for maximum weight loss possible. The program focuses on altering your lifestyle in such a way that you start leading your lifestyle in the appropriate manner even when the balloon is no longer there in the stomach. The best part about this surgery is that it is not a stop gap measure. It educates and modifies your life for the better so that you don’t suffer from obesity again in your life.