Introduction

Obesity has reached epidemic proportions globally, with more than 1.7 billion people falling in the overweight/obese category (as per WHO). Weight loss can range from being relatively simple to being almost unattainable, depending on several factors such as type and severity of obesity, the age and lifestyle of the individual and the psychological mindset. It is often seen that in the few spurts of knowledge dispersed on weight loss, people across resort to dieting, exercising and a host of other methods, though not always intelligently. Some in spite of balancing these are unable to shed and/or maintain their weight. These treatment options may prove to be beneficial for overweight people, however, incase of morbid obesity, which is estimated to afflict 20% of the obese population, there exists a 98% recidivism rate with such weight loss methods.

A viable treatment option for such people is Bariatric surgery. The word ‘bari’ is the plural of ‘baros’. In Greek, “baros” means burden or load. From this stems “Baris” referring to the obese or overweight people. With the help of this surgery, these candidates also can take care of the myriad of comorbidities like diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, asthma, stroke, cancer and depression to name a few. Bariatric surgery should not be mistaken as a cosmetic procedure. It is a life saving alternate for obese people who fail to show weight loss by the age old conventional methods.