Weight Loss Surgery
Baptist Health Richmond: Weight Loss Surgery
Bariatric surgeon DEREK WEISS, MD explains surgical options for weight loss and describes the minimally invasive laparoscopic/robotics Sleeve Gastrectomy procedure.
Weight Loss Surgery Health Talks Transcript
G. Derek Weiss, MD
The vast majority of people, I think, when they finally come to weight loss surgery, their quality of life is poor. Unfortunately your life expectancy is cut about 15 to 20 years if you’re morbidly obese.
Kimberly Richards, Richmond
I was a walking poster child for everything you should not be doing, you know, as you get older. I had the surgery the year before I turned 40.
G. Derek Weiss, MD
Here at Baptist Health Richmond, we offer a comprehensive weight loss surgery program. There have been a lot of changes to weight loss surgery in the last several years. The technique I use mostly is a procedure called the laparoscopic Sleeve Gastrectomy. I do that through a laparoscope, which is a small video camera or robotic. What I’m able to do through that in about an hour and a half is remove the outer portion of your stomach, turning your stomach from about a liter and a half bag to a banana sized tube that holds one-tenth the size of what your stomach used to hold. It’s not uncommon to lose 30 to 50 pounds in the first month, you know, depending on where you start, and be down over 100 pounds by six months.
Kimberly Richards, Richmond
Really it completely changed my life. When I really thought about it, it was not vanity. It was health reasons. It was for my family. I wanted to set a better example for my children. I blend in, and that’s what I wanted. I didn’t want to necessarily stand out, I just wanted to blend in.
