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What Is Weight Loss Surgery?

Sometimes, being overweight can lead to serious health problems. People who are 100 or more pounds over their ideal body weight are more likely to develop medical problems. These problems include diabetes, heart disease, sleep apnea, liver disease, and joint problems.

Weight loss surgery (also called bariatric surgery) can help very overweight people who have tried but failed to lose weight and face serious medical problems. But it's not a quick fix. People need to put in a lot of hard work before and after the operation.

The two main kinds of surgery for weight loss in teens are gastric sleeve and gastric bypass.

What Is Gastric Sleeve Surgery?

Gastric sleeve (also called sleeve gastrectomy) is the most common weight loss procedure. With this operation, the surgeon removes part of the stomach and makes a tube or "sleeve" out of the rest of the stomach. The new, banana-shaped stomach is much smaller than the original stomach.

After the operation, a person will eat less, feel full sooner, and be less hungry.  Part of the stomach that's removed makes hormones that increase appetite and help control insulin. So, a person's appetite decreases and insulin resistance improves after gastric sleeve surgery.

The gastric sleeve procedure is not reversible.