Bariatric surgery is the patient’s health global improvement through the effective and long-lasting reduction of body weight and the correction of associated diseases to the unusual amount of fat (diabetes, hypertension …). Therefore, bariatric surgery should not be confused with those treatments whose central objective is the improvement of the patient’s body image (liposculpture, breast augmentation, hair implants, etc.), or with endoscopic treatments (intragastric balloon, POSE method), which do not offer a permanent resolution to the problem of obesity.
The principal objective of obesity surgery is to reduce the mortality or the risk of suffering from incapacitating diseases common to obese people. Consequently, although these surgeries result in esthetical advantages and increase the patient’s self-esteem, as a consequence of weight loss, these should not be the reasons to recommend the surgery.