What Are Bariatric Surgery Clinics?

Bariatric surgery clinics are medical facilities in which a person can have a surgical procedure for the treatment of obesity. Essentially, these clinics perform what is often referred to as weight loss surgery. These types of clinics don't typically serve individuals who have success with losing weight as a result of diet and exercise, or even those who are carrying several extra pounds that they are having trouble shedding. Instead, bariatric surgery clinics usually cater to individuals who are extremely overweight and have tried diet and exercise to no avail. Some types of weight loss surgery restrict the amount of food a person can consume at once while others change how the patient consumes food.

When the average person wants or needs to lose weight, he usually turns to dieting, which involves the restriction of calories so that he takes in fewer calories than he burns each day. In many cases, a person who is overweight also engages in exercise, which helps him to burn additional calories and, often, lose weight faster. When people stick to healthy dieting and exercise, this usually works. For some people, however, the amount of weight they have to lose is extreme, and diligent dieting and exercise may fail to produce significant results. In such a case, bariatric surgery clinics may offer a good option for losing weight.

Bariatric surgery clinics are not usually an option for a person who is moderately overweight. Instead, these clinics usually focus their procedures on helping people who are extremely overweight. Often, the people who are most likely to become patients of bariatric surgery clinics have spent long periods of time trying to lose weight through diet and exercise, though some may have so much extra weight that exercise is difficult for them. When the typical methods of weight loss fail, they may then turn to bariatric surgery clinics for help.

In many cases, bariatric surgery clinics perform weight loss procedures that are restrictive in nature. Some such surgeries restrict the amount of food a person can consume at one time, and as a result, the patient takes in fewer calories after the surgery and gradually loses large amounts of weight. Some weight loss surgeries also focus on absorption. These surgeries work to ensure that the patient absorbs fewer calories than normal. Usually, the surgeries that change the way the patient absorbs calories involve more invasive techniques than the restrictive surgeries.