Not all obesity is the same and the treatment is based on a calculation called the Body Mass Index (BMI).
Calculating your BMI is easy and based on your height and weight. Use our BMI Calculator on the bottom of the home page or Click on this link to calculate your BMI.
More
Some of you guys already know this great news… HMSA now covers the Sleeve with the same criteria as for the Gastric Bypass and Band. Basically, a Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy can be considered for individuals with a BMI greater than 40, or a BMI greater than 35 with some significant health condition.
This has been a long time coming. I remember three years of meetings with the HMSA directors, advising them of the need to cover this procedure with the standard bariatric criteria. It’s about time for the Sleeve to be considered a viable option for surgical weight loss!
More
Not sure if you guys heard the news last week, but some exciting reports got a lot of attention. Baically, two well designed studies from the US compared individuals with diabetes who had either undergone Gastric Bypass surgery versus the best available medical treatment. Not surprisingly, the surgery group of patients did remarkabley well in acheiving high rates of diabetes remision. We’ve all known how good the Bypass is in having patients get off their diabetic medication, but these studies were a big support in proving to all health care providers the benefits of bariatric surgery. News of the reports were seen on CBS news and also the local paper. It is going to be an exciting time for bariatric surgery, with a greater acceptance of these procedures causing positive metabolic effects like diabetes improvement.
Here are the two articles if interested:
More
Rick from the Big Island chats about how he feels just two days after
More
Hear what Olga has to say two years after her adjustable gastric band surgery
More
