Gastric Sleeve Surgery

Restrictive operations like gastric sleeve surgery make the stomach smaller and help people lose weight. With a smaller stomach, you will feel full a lot quicker than you are used to. This means that you will need to make big lifelong changes in how you eat—including smaller portion sizes and different foods—in order to lose weight.

This surgery can be done by making a large incision in the abdomen (an open procedure) or by making several small incisions and using small instruments and a camera to guide the surgery (Reference laparoscopic Opens New Window approach). More than half of your stomach is removed, leaving a thin vertical sleeve, or tube, that is about the size of a banana. Surgical staples keep your new stomach closed. Because part of your stomach has been removed, this is not reversible.

Sometimes this surgery is part of a larger approach to weight loss done in several steps. If you need to lose a lot of weight before you have Reference duodenal switch surgery, gastric sleeve surgery may help you.

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