When we talk about healthy eating and dieting, our focuses is almost entirely on people who are overweight. Obesity-related diseases account for just about 10 percent of medical costs in the United States, which comes to an estimated $147 billion each year.

That said, according to recently released research, people who are underweight are 40 percent more likely to die in the first month after surgery than those who are overweight.

The researchers believe that a patient’s body mass index (BMI) can be used as a predictor for risk in recovery time after surgery. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines those who have a BMI of 18.5 to 24.9 as normal weight, so anything below that range fits in the underweight category.

Previous studies showed mixed results, but since the new study examined nearly 190,000 patients undergoing various surgical procedures at 183 hospitals, it’s expansive enough to be taken seriously.
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By Alicia Rose

The body contouring procedure normally follows extreme weight loss due to diet and exercise over the course of one to two years or gastric bypass surgery. Body contouring after weight loss is the combination of a lower body lift around the buttocks, groin, hips and thighs, mastopexy (breast), brachioplasty (arms) and adominoplasty (abdomen), and all of the surgeries are normally undergone in stages. Each of the individual procedures accounts for a anesthesia, facility or hospital, and surgeon’s fee, in addition to post-surgery garments, prescriptions and pre-surgical medical lab testing.

Throughout these procedures, the patient’s loose and sagging skin will be removed and the surgical areas will be cosmetically restructured and contoured. The skin is surgically cut away and remaining skin is connected and closed with dissolvable internal sutures and external stitches that are removed about a week or two after your surgery, or skin adhesives and surgical tape. Often, a drain is applied by inserting a tiny tube under the skin to collect excess fluid. Following the procedure, bandages are applied to the incision sites. Surgical areas are normally also wrapped to minimize swelling in compression garments.

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By Jessie Gorges

Bills are piling up for Barbara Warnock-Morgan. After several years of diets that just didn’t work, she decided to get an adjustable gastric banding in November of 2009.

“I was the fat kid,” she said. “Over the years I yo-yo dieted my way up the scale. I’d lose 20 pounds, then gain back 30.”

Adjustable gastric banding, a form of bariatric surgery in which a silicone band is placed around the top portion of the stomach, costs $15,000 to $30,000. Though the 46-year-old, who lives in Brooklyn, was fortunate to have her insurance cover the costs, she will have to pay for body-contouring cosmetic surgery, also known as a “body lift,” to tighten up the loose skin.

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Update: Our resident mental health expert, Brooke Randolph, LMHC, weighs in on the topic in a featured story at Yahoo Shine: Teen Weight Loss Surgery Unhealthy for Many Reasons.

There is some alarming news coming from a new study: Overweight teenagers are undergoing laparoscopic gastric band surgery in increasing numbers, even though the procedure is not approved for anyone under 18 years old.

Researchers examined a database of bariatric surgeries in California, and found that gastric band operations increased seven-fold from 2005 to 2007. They also found that 590 people between 13- and 20-years-old underwent gastric band or gastric bypass surgery during the study period.

Another point noted was that 93 percent of the weight-reduction surgeries were performed in hospitals that are not affiliated with nationally recognized children’s hospitals.

While “manufacturers have touted the banding procedure as less invasive, many [medical] centers have abandoned gastric banding because of poor long-term results,” say the study’s authors.
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There have been varying publicly-funded interventions with regards to the fight on obesity. But none are as direct as the one being initiated in Australia.

The government down under is considering funding lap-band surgery to curb rising rates of obesity. You can’t get anymore directly interventionist than that. If implemented, the plan would have tax payers footing the bill for surgery. Lap-band surgery is where surgeons attach a band around the entrance to the stomach so patients feel full after eating a moderate amount of food.
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