Surgery is not for everyone.  It is a serious step reserved only for those patients with severe or morbid obesity. We, at ALSA, follow the National Institutes of Health Guidelines and have minimal weight requirements based on one’s height.  (BMI calculator) Only after a thorough consultation and only if we are satisfied that you are aware of the implications and alternatives of this type of surgery will we offer you the procedure.  In addition, there are many surgeons who practice closer to your home.  We encourage you to be as close to your surgeon as possible, but we recognize that not all programs provide the services and procedures as yet.  Our team at ALSA can make special arrangements depending on your individual circumstances. 

There are many procedures available for weight loss.  Most can be categorized as:

·         Restrictive, the amount of food intake is restricted by altering the digestive system (vertical-banded gastroplasty, roux-en-y gastric bypass, laparoscopic roux-en-y-gastric bypass) or

·         Malabsorbtive, involves shortening the length of the digestive track to reduce the amount of food that the body can absorb (biliopancreatic diversion, distal roux-en-y gastric bypass, jejuno-ileal bypass). 

We at ALSA do not perform the malabsorbtive procedures as we have not found convincing evidence that they provide a more consistent weight loss or improved quality of life.  We have converted many of these procedures to the Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass because of severe metabolic complications and malnutrition.

There are many other procedures that are touted as “unique”.  We are only presenting common procedures with known tract records and definable statistics.  We advise you to use common sense in your educational process.  If it sounds too good to be true, it generally is.