When and why obesity surgery?

The American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS) has recently recommended obesity operations when the BMI is greater than 35. (Calculate your BMI)

However, numbers are not treated but patients, and each case must be individualized. In fact, it is the patient who knows himself best, and it is he who usually asks for the help of an operation, justified by “I can no longer control the weight”, “this gets out of hand”, “I am no longer able to make a diet and maintain weight loss” … (even so, many people very demanding with their physical appearance, have these feelings with moderate overweight).

The conditions that the patient must meet to advise an operation would be:

• BMI > 35.
• Obesity of more than 3-5 years of evolution, which is progressively increasing.
• That has been treated by specialists in obesity, and managed to lose weight (even if he has recovered it later).
• Who suffers from diseases that can be improved with weight loss (including emotional disturbances).
• Have direct relatives with obesity (grandparents, parents, siblings).

When the patient fulfils four or more of these conditions (always with BMI > 35), we know that obesity will continue to increase progressively, and that an obesity operation will change the patient’s life, curing existing problems, preventing the appearance of diseases, and improving the quality of life on a day-to-day basis.

It is in these cases when we say to the patient: “In your case the benefit of the operation, compensates the risk you are going to undergo.”