Complications After Weight Loss Surgery
Complications after weight loss surgery are less frequent than they once were and over time experienced programs and surgeons have become very good at reducing their frequency and severity. But serious complications can and do still occur. I talk about these in detail in “Outpatient Weight Loss Surgery: Safe and Successful Weight Loss Through Modern Bariatric Surgery”.
Some types of complications are easily recognized and remedied, but others present more difficult challenges. Many of the more serious complications which can occur require a very long time period for their resolution. For example, someone who has an anastomotic leak after gastric bypass surgery and requires reoperation, or someone who experiences hemorrhage and has a large abdominal hematoma, or someone who develops lung infection (pneumonia) and requires prolonged hospitalization – all of these may require many weeks or even months to completely resolve. Some of the most serious complications in which a person develops a serious infection can recover, but still require an additional six months to regain their normal strength and energy and activity levels. This is not just the case with weight loss surgery, but with any type of major surgery or other illness or trauma.
If you or your loved one does develop a serious complication or problem, remember that with prolonged and determined battle, usually a person can recovery fully, but also keep in mind that the time course of that recovery can be very, very long.
Tags: bariatric surgery, complications, risks, Weight Loss Surgery
