Archives: August 2024
What Will My Body Look Like After Bariatric Surgery or Medical Weight Loss?
Body image is always a relatively contentious issue after bariatric surgery because everybody thinks of their excess skin differently and has very defined and often quite strong feelings about how their body should look and what they are willing to do to get to their goals. As such, it’s almost impossible to predict precisely what your body will look like. We can, however, offer some concrete advice on achieving the look you desire.
How You Know You Need a Revision or Conversion
You may have heard the term bariatric conversion or revision. This is a technical term for a secondary surgery that revises the primary bariatric procedure to either address complications or improve effectiveness and long-term weight loss. Most patients will undergo conversion, which changes the primary surgical procedure to another type of surgery (e.g., converting a gastric sleeve to a gastric bypass or a gastric sleeve to a duodenal switch). The decision to do this is based on how the patient has responded in their postoperative life, both physically and mentally. Conversions may seem like a great way to get back on track, but insurance companies will only cover patients’ conversions on a case-by-case basis – when they believe it is medically necessary. Frankly, due to the higher risk of complications after conversion, we, too, want to be absolutely sure that other reasons for weight regain are ruled out or addressed before the bariatric conversion is pursued.
