| Dr. C. Daniel Smith is a member of the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery. Here the Doctor has answered some of the common questions Bizymoms visitors have about Bariatric Surgery.
Q. What is the long-term follow-up schedule?
A. It is critical that anyone who has had a weight loss operation maintain long-term follow-up with a doctor who can monitor their weight loss and any nutritional deficiencies that could develop. Also, as you lose weight, many medical conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure go away, and keeping a regular schedule of follow-up with a physician allows monitoring of these conditions and safely decreasing the medications needed. Typically follow-up after surgery is recommended at one month, 3 months, six months and annually.
Q. How does the adjustable gastric band work?
A. This is a band that is surgically placed around the upper part of the stomach. This band restricts how quickly the food can leave the upper part of the stomach, and in this way it limits how much you can eat at one sitting. It is adjustable thereby allowing how tight the band is to be tailored to your specific weight loss needs.
Q. Is Bariatric Surgery Covered By Health Insurance?
A. Most insurance companies recognize medically complicated obesity as true medical condition and offer coverage for bariatric surgery. However, there are many different plans offered by each insurance company, and not all plans cover these operations. It is important that you find out if your insurance plan covers bariatric surgery. If it does, then you need to meet the criteria for coverage which usually means having a physician document the medical condition you have that are associated with obesity (for example, diabetes, high blood pressure, GERD, or stress urinary incontinence). Also, many insurance companies require failure of a doctor supervised weight loss program before authoring a bariatric operation. At Mayo we have a physician who specializes in the medical management of obesity and who can do all of the assessment needed by insurance before undergoing bariatric surgery.
Q. Do Bariatric Patients Regularly Suffer From Health Complications?
A. Millions of Americans suffer with obesity related medical conditions. Obesity is the second leading cause of preventable death in America today (cigarette smoking is the leading preventable cause). Bariatric surgery corrects the obesity and corrects the metabolic condition that leads to many of the health conditions afflicting obesity people.
Q. What is Bariatric Surgery?
A. Bariatric surgery describes several different operations that can be used to help people lose weight. It is usually reserved for people who are morbidly obese which typically means being at least 100 pounds over your ideal body weight. Another way to measure this is with ones body mass index (BMI). This is a calculation using your height and weight, and there are many calculators available on the Internet where you can put in your height and weight and determine your BMI. Weight loss operations are usually reserved for people whose BMI is over 35.
The most operations offered as bariatric surgery are the roux-en-Y gastric bypass, the sleeve gastrectomy and the laparoscopic adjustable gastric band. All can be performed laparoscopically through small incisions. These operations are specialized so that they are typically offered by bariatric surgeons, surgeons who have some special experience with these types of operations.
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