Weight Loss and Your Health
When you're successful in losing significant amounts of weight — whether through bariatric surgery or dieting — extra caution must be used in evaluating your readiness for surgery after weight loss. This is one factor you should consider when selecting your plastic surgeon. Your physician must have your overall health in mind when discussing the surgical possibilities with you, and they must plan a thorough health evaluation prior to scheduling a procedure.
Nutritional Considerations and Surgical Readiness
As you know, because your food intake is altered your nutrition can be compromised. The decrease in calories that facilitates significant weight loss often includes a concurrent decrease in protein. This lower protein and caloric intake may result in poor wound healing, anemia (a decreased red blood cell count) and impaired clotting mechanisms.
Prior to reconstructive surgery, you should pay special attention to your diet, avoiding empty calories and increasing your protein intake. The simplest way to do this is to supplement your diet with high protein, low sugar foods. Good choices include "ready to drink" protein drinks such as those available from CytoSport and blendable protein boosters like Nectar Sweets and Matrix. You may find other high protein foods in the Atkins product line, and there are more options to choose from every day. In fact, many patients are now shopping online to find the widest variety available and benefit from product reviews and recommendations. Read more about online resources for bariatric patients.
Simple lab tests can and should be done to check to make sure that your nutrition level is adequate to allow you to tolerate the surgery. Those laboratory examinations include tests for liver and kidney function as well as blood clotting and cell counts. Should you undergo surgery with protein deficiency, wound healing may be impaired. This can result in anything from poor scaring to incision separation.
The experience Dr. Kaufman has with weight loss patients gives him specialized knowledge to ensure your health and safety. Part of the surgical plan he creates for you will include steps to help you:
- Optimize protein intake
- Eliminate empty calories
- Ensure physiologic function is normal prior to surgery
Medical Considerations and Surgical Readiness
Although many medical issues resolve themselves as patients lose weight, long-term obesity can have lasting impacts. Sometimes the demands extreme weight puts on the body can cause cardiac disease and pulmonary issues. A careful medical evaluation is always important prior to plastic surgery after weight loss. Depending on your age and physical condition, certain simple tests may be required to eliminate the possibility of undiagnosed heart or lung disease. Those tests are a 12-lead EKG, a chest x-ray, laboratory tests, and a thorough physical examination.
Don't be discouraged by these steps that may be needed to safeguard your health. In fact, many patients are healthier after significant weight loss than their age matched counterparts. Your diet modification and exercise program, integral to your weight loss, have improved your overall health. Nevertheless, talk with your doctor about the medical considerations prior to embarking on a surgical plan. For every post weight loss patient, Dr. Kaufman:
- Rules out the possibility of medical issues that would compromise surgery
- Performs basic tests to ensure surgery will be safe
Call (916) 983-9895 to make an appointment at Kaufman and Clark Plastic Surgery in Folsom, serving post weight loss patients from San Jose, San Francisco and Sacramento, as well as men and women from all corners of California and all over the United States.
