Types of Bariatric Surgery
Work with your bariatric surgeon at UNC Medical Center in Chapel Hill or our UNC Hillsborough Campus to determine which type of bariatric surgery is best for you. Your care team will consider your:
- Current weight
- Medical conditions
- Weight loss goals
Bariatric Surgery Options
Choose from two surgery options, each of which should help you lose 50-70 percent of your excess weight.
Sleeve Gastrectomy Surgery
Gastric sleeve surgery is the most common form of bariatric surgery at UNC Medical Center. Your surgeon removes part of your stomach and leaves a small portion, limiting the amount of food you can eat. You may find this procedure a good fit if you:
- Have anemia or Crohn’s disease
- Want to eventually get pregnant
- Want to lose about 60 percent of your excess weight
Gastric Bypass Surgery
Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery shrinks the size of your stomach and directs food to bypass part of your small intestine. This procedure may be a good fit if you have:
- Type 2 diabetes
- Severe gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD)
- A need to lose about 70 percent of your excess weight
Revisional Weight-Loss Surgery
Revisional surgery replaces or repairs a previous bariatric surgery. You may want to consider revisional surgery if you:
- Experience complications from an earlier surgery
- Received an adjustable gastric band (such as a Lap-Band®) several years ago, and it has failed
- Gained back the weight you lost after an earlier weight-loss surgery
If you need Lap-Band removal, our surgical team can take it out and complete another weight-loss procedure during the same operation.
