Due to the shape it takes after the surgery, gastric sleeve surgery also known as sleeve gastrectomy surgery, is one of the successful ways to deal with obesity in recent years.
What is gastric sleeve surgery?
In general, gastric sleeve surgery is to ensure that the person is fed with less food with a smaller stomach than its current state.
The increase in body mass indexes of people who do not get successful results as a result of diets and exercises for a long time causes various diseases. Diabetes, hypertension, cholesterol, various joint and vascular diseases are some of them. First of all, for this situation that needs to be resolved in terms of health, the medical world has preferred gastric reduction surgery. The self-confidence that the blood values of a healthy body will bring with it has an undeniably important place.
Who Can Have Gastric sleeve surgery?
Patients with diseases such as sleep apnea, hypertension, type 2 diabetes are at the top of the list of candidates for gastric reduction surgery. In order to bring a scientific criterion for this surgery, the World Health Organization has made a limitation regarding the possibility of this surgery for people with a body mass index of 40 and above. However, although the body mass index is in the range of 35-40, someone with the specified diseases is considered suitable for gastric reduction surgery.
In addition, gastric reduction surgery cannot be performed for people who have not reached the age range to complete organ development, those with eating disorders and pregnant women.
What is the Weight Limit of Gastric sleeve surgery?
It is very difficult to find a single answer to this question, which is on the minds of many people before gastric reduction surgery. In order to get the healthiest answer to this question, the body mass index determined by the World Health Organization (WHO) should be taken as a basis. It has a limitation that it is applied to people who are morbidly obese, whose body mass index exceeds the limit of 40 kg/m². Apart from this, if people with a body mass index of 35kg/m² have type 2 diabetes or metabolic diseases, it is appropriate to have gastric sleeve surgery with the decision of the doctor.
How Is Gastric Sleeve Surgery Performed?
Thanks to the laparoscopic method, it is one of the advantages that makes the gastric reduction surgery option a great choice, without the need for large incisions in the body. The surgeon performs the operation with a camera that will be sent to the abdomen through tiny 0.5 cm incisions to be opened in the body like liposuction surgery.
During gastric sleeve surgery the more stretched and deformed part of the stomach is cut. A stomach is obtained in the form of a long thin tube, about 80% of which is removed during the surgery. After the surgery, the stomach is inflated by dyeing with dyes suitable for the stomach structure to ensure that there will be no bleeding in the cut parts of the stomach. After this last stage, the surgical process is completed and the patient is expected to recover.
Thanks to gastric sleeve surgery the secretion of satiety hormone and the feeling of satiety in the body are provided in a shorter time. As a result, the person will be able to reduce the body mass index as he will reach the feeling of fullness more quickly by taking less food.
Is There Any Skin Sagging After Gastric sleeve surgery?
During weight loss, which occurs with less food intake by the stomach, there is a rapid loss of subcutaneous fat. For this reason, it is possible to experience a loss of skin elasticity. There are lotions and care products that can be used to minimize this deformation during the weight loss process. In addition, after the recovery process after gastric reduction surgery, regular sports will support the preservation of skin elasticity.
At the end of all these processes, depending on the person, skin sagging may occur. For these reasons, stretching surgeries can be performed after bariatric surgery processes.
Is Weight Gained After Gastric sleeve surgery?
Of course, weight gain after gastric sleeve surgery is not a desired or planned situation. Since approximately 20% of the previous stomach is left during the surgery, weight loss is expected up to 18 months. Afterwards, it is expected that the weight will be maintained and the eating pattern has been established by this time. It is also useful to consider that the stomach is an organ that can expand again due to the anatomy of the body. In the first 18 months, especially since the stomach is limited, it is not possible for the person to gain weight, but if the person wants to continue their eating habits before the gastric reduction surgery, weight gain will occur in the later process.
Is There an Age Limit for Gastric sleeve surgery?
The age limit determined by the Ministry of Health in order to legally perform the surgery is 18. Besides this age limit, if it is observed that the growth of the person's organs is not completed, he may not be suitable for surgery. For this reason, besides the age limit, the person must have reached a healthy and complete organ structure.
The upper limit is 65 years old. The determination of this age limit is due to the fact that the organs cannot function fully after a while due to the body anatomy and their working performance decreases. A doctor's examination and approval are required for people over the age of 65 to undergo gastric reduction surgery.
What Should Be Considered Before Gastric sleeve surgery?
In this technique of obesity surgery, there are some processes that the patient should do before the operation. These are as follows;
• Diet Process,
Even if the patient's body mass index is in the appropriate range, a 10-day diet list is given. With this list, the weight loss process of the patient is examined. In particular, the examination of the reduction in the liver ensures that the patient's body is prepared for gastric reduction surgery.
• Tests to be Done,
Although the blood tests performed at the first doctor's appointments before the surgery answer many questions, unfortunately, they are not enough on their own. Imaging such as ECG, chest X-ray, SGF and lower abdominal ultrasound may be requested.
• Smoking,
One of the factors that negatively affect the cell renewal that the patient will experience after the surgery is smoking. For this reason, before the operation, it will be necessary to stop smoking for a period of time that the doctor deems appropriate.
Things to Do After Gastric Reduction Surgery
After the operation, you stay under control in the hospital for two nights. During this period, some points that must be followed in order to provide the patient with a quality recovery period are specified.
There are some issues of high importance after gastric reduction surgery in order to complete the recovery period successfully and to obtain efficient results. The first of these is the diet that should be established after the surgery. Especially in the first week, it is important to chew the solid foods thoroughly or to consume them purely if possible. It is necessary to ensure adequate intake of protein, which is one of the nutritional factors that makes the greatest contribution to the healing process. After consuming solid food, liquid products should not be consumed for 45 minutes. The reason of this; Consumption of solid and liquid foods at the same time causes an increase in stomach volume.
After the first week, it is recommended that the patient start walking at a light pace to reduce the post-operative effects. Continuing with an increasing pace over time will be the best option for the patient.
Sexual intercourse should not be experienced for at least two weeks after the surgery, the doctor may extend this period if he deems it necessary.
How Many Hours Does Gastric sleeve surgery Take?
Laparoscopic gastric reduction surgery takes approximately 1.5-2 hours. The process, which starts with the introduction of narcosis to the body before the operation begins, continues with the opening of a 0.5 cm incision for a camera moved from the abdominal region of the person towards the stomach. After this stage, it takes an average of 1 hour to cut the stomach. In order to ensure that the sutures are controlled by making sure that the surgery is successful, the stomach is controlled by inflating and the operation process is terminated.
Even if the operation lasts for an average of 2 hours, it takes an average of 3-4 hours for the person to recover from the effects of narcosis.
What are the Conditions of Gastric sleeve surgery?
Gastric reduction surgery, which is one of the first procedures that comes to mind when obesity surgery is mentioned, is not an applicable procedure in all circumstances. The weight that people cannot lose with exercise and regular nutrition and the health deformations caused by these are among the priority conditions.
In some cases, it may not be possible to lose weight with sports and regular nutrition, which is suitable for the body anatomy. Loss of satiety over time due to long-term diets or some genetic factors is one of the most common health deformations today. Due to this situation, the desire to eat more may increase and this causes an increase in the body mass index of the people. This result can lead to diabetes, hypertension and vascular diseases. In this case, gastric reduction surgery is considered appropriate for people over 35kg/m², while it is recommended to wait until the limit of 40kg/m² if there are no health problems.
Diet After Gastric Reduction Surgery
Avoiding certain foods during this process will increase the success of the surgery. For example; acidic fruits that can cause bloating, such as grapefruit and oranges; foods high in fiber, such as celery and corn. Consumption of rice and bakery products should also be avoided for the period specified by the doctor. Being sensitive to these issues prevents complaints after stomach surgery.
It is recommended to proceed with the doctor's control and to adhere to the specified diet list after gastric sleeve surgery.
What should be the lying position after gastric sleeve surgery?
Care should be taken that the incisions in the abdominal region are not under pressure after the surgery. For this reason, especially for the first 15 days, it should be slept on the right or left arm, not on the back or face. It is appropriate to lie on the back in the following 15 days.
Surgical scars will become suitable for sleeping in the prone position approximately 1 month after the gastric reduction surgery. Unless otherwise stated, this period of time will be sufficient.
Gastric Sleeve Surgery Risks and Side Effects
Like any surgery performed, there are some risks that people are likely to experience after gastric sleeve surgery. If we want to gather these risks under two headings; the risks associated with bariatric surgery procedures and the risks that may occur in the diet.
Risk factors that may occur after surgery;
• Getting an infection,
• Excessive bleeding or blood clotting,
• Ulcer or acid reflux,
• Dumping syndrome,
• Lung and respiratory problems,
• Leakages in the gastrointestinal tract,
• Rare deaths.
Risks to be experienced in the diet;
• Decreases in blood values that may occur due to limited food intake,
• Irregularities and syndromes in the intestines.
What are the Prices of Gastric sleeve surgery?
Various factors are effective in determining the price of gastric sleeve surgery. In addition to these, due to the fact that Turkey plays an active role in health tourism, it receives high demand from abroad and provides support in services such as accommodation outside the surgery process. It is not possible to specify a net price without providing a preliminary examination with the patient. A net price can be specified for the patient along with additional services such as accommodation and transportation that the patient will receive outside the surgery.
Since the gastric sleeve surgery is performed due to some health problems, the health problems of the person are eliminated and the operation is performed. The total cost of surgery is determined as a result of other treatments that need to be performed. In the light of all these, the final price is determined at the end of the doctor's consultations.