How to choose
When weighing different choices to assist with weight loss, keep in mind that one option is to do nothing. Zero treatment, however, tends to have zero results. Another option is to continue diet and exercise or begin a medical weight loss program. An important part of any medical weight loss program is to screen for disorders that may be contributing to obesity such as hypothyroidism and Cushing's disease. At Cincinnati Weight Loss Center we screen for these and other medical disorders when appropriate and we also understand that many people suffering from obesity have abnormal appetite mechanisms and their bodies are very efficient at storing calories. Skinny people do not have this physiology. We all know skinny people who don't eat right and don't exercise but they stay skinny because their bodies burn calories instead of storing them.
Once you are more than one hundred pounds overweight, many patients regain the weight they've lost and find it difficult to sustain a healthy weight. Dieting can be associated with depression, anxiety, irritability, weakness and preoccupation with food. Many patients will repeatedly lose and regain weight (yo-yo), which is actually not healthy for your body.
Some people find success with medical weight loss programs. Some people find their success with surgical weight loss. Cincinnati Weight Loss Center specializes in Laparoscopic Adjustable Gastric Band (LAP-BAND, REALIZE band) surgery for patients who have had it with dieting and want a more effective long-term solution for a healthy weight. Typically patients who consider surgery are tired of losing and regaining weight and just can't face another diet program. They want a powerful tool to help them succeed. Most people have tried everything by the time they consider surgery.
On the surgery side, there are many important distinctions between Laparoscopic Adjustable Gastric Band (LAP-BAND, REALIZE band) and gastric bypass surgery. Cincinnati Weight Loss Center does not offer gastric bypass. If you look at the common complications of weight loss surgery, the gastric band is much safer. Many complications related to the gastric bypass do not exist with the gastric band. Gastric bypass complications are common, may be severe, and in some instances can result in long-term disability or even death. Band complications are rare, minor and easily fixed as an outpatient procedure in most cases.
When surgeons and healthcare workers have bariatric surgery themselves, most of them choose gastric banding over the bypass. This speaks to the differences in the risk between the two procedures.
When one of our patients struggled with the decision between band and bypass, we advised her to go to the support groups and talk to patients who had had the procedures. She came back from that experience and decided to have a band. When asked why, she told us that the bypass patients looked ill. She didn’t like the way their skin and hair looked. She said the band patients looked healthy and happy. Many of our patients say they would rather stay obese than risk having a gastric bypass. When band patients reach their healthy weight, they are healthy. When bypass patients reach their healthy weight, they still have a chronic disease called malabsorption.
Why do so many obese Americans choose gastric bypass over gastric band?
Unfortunately, most people have no idea that the gastric band option exists. As more people find out about it, the number of band operations performed in the U.S. will continue to rise. In addition, there are many misconceptions about the band. Many gastric bypass surgeons are not comfortable performing laparoscopic surgery, so they simply tell patients that it doesn’t work. The band has been available in Europe since 1993 and has overtaken gastric bypass as the number one weight loss operation, and, eventually, this will happen in the U.S. over time. It does not help that health insurance companies are slow to cover newer technologies. Most health insurance companies are not looking to increase the number of procedures they cover. Some insurance companies will cover a gastric bypass, but deny coverage for the band, thus encouraging patients to have a much riskier operation.
7798 University Court, Suite E, West Chester, OH, 45069
Phone: 513-939-BAND
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