News, FDA Considers Lap-Band Surgery for the Less Obese (reduce, glute, gain)

[JD59]

Weight-loss surgery may soon become a lot more common, as the FDA considers a request to lower the weight threshold for Lap-Band patients. Allergan, the company that makes the band, wants to reduce the minimum BMI from 40 to 35, which could double the number of Americans eligible for the operation.

FDA Considers Lap-Band Surgery for the Less Obese - Proposal could double number of eligible Americans

[ogre]

Hmmm, well, stop the presses for a news flash: The FDA is not purely a regulatory agency, but is in the pockets of the companies that manufacture medical supplies.

[LaoTzuMindFu]

I guess the REAL question is why would the "less obese" even consider such a surgery? This is not good.

[the minx]

Isn't a BMI of 35 still pretty large?

Unless I was on the threshold of death, I would not choose surgery for weight loss. I have known a few people who have done it and the results were scary - yellow skin, straw hair falling out, and saggy skin.

[foxywench]

a bmi of 35 is still fairly large...
right now most insurances will accept you for WLS with a bmi of 35 IF you also have a co-morbidity (asthma, sleep apnea ect...) while 40 is typically an automatic aproval.

my concern with lowering the standard bmi is that there are alot of people in the wolrd who think that wls is "the easy way out"
even now as i attend wls forums i see folks with a surgery start weight of only 215-230 getting wls and these people loose the weight just like anyone else that gets wls, but they tend to loose too much and have more issues...

i personally feel weight loss surgery of any kind should be a last resort...
it should be "ive tried everythign and cant do this on my own" situation...
(though im ok with lower bmi's that have weight related health issues that could be life threatening)

i just worry that lowering the bmi will make the surgery too acessable to those who think its an "easy way" to loose the weight...
or people looking to loose vanity lbs ect.

[D2C21GC]

Don't be so judgmental folks - I had lap band surgery with a BMI of 35 and a co-morbidity of high cholesterol, high sugar and a family history of diabetes and stroke... I lost 85 lbs and more importantly have maintained that weightloss for 2+ years. My LAPBAND IS the missing link to my previous weight loss attempts, which btw were very successful but not long-term. My blood pressure is now normal with no medication, my sugar is within normal ranges without medication but I still have a high normal cholesterol reading which is most likely hereditary but am currently below the threshold where I would have to resume taking my Zocor.

Lap band surgery is not an easy out, I don't have straw hair, vitamin deficiencies or have gained more than a pound or two back before I vigilantly put my poor eating behavior in check. What I have done is given myself a tool that helps promote self-discipline ... and my WLS doctor is vigilant that my weight loss totals are not "vanity driven", that I don't exhibit anorexic tendencies and I am on a path of maintaining or improving my health...

Honestly folks, it is easier for a diabetic that totally disregards their diet and destroys their kidneys to qualify for thousands of dollars in dialysis than it is to qualify for WLS that could save the health system thousands of dollars a year. REALLY???

[foxywench]

d2c i do agree with everything you said...

i just worry that the lower bmi now could lead to lower bmi later and ive already had a few people with mabe 40-50lbs to loose ask me about getting lapband/gastric bypass to help them loose "that last 50lbs" they think its some easy thing that can be done on a whim to loose vanity lbs and as you know, thats not the case...

but i worry that by lowering the bmi (i think 35 with co-morbidities is perfectly fair) would lessen the severity of such a surgery to the general public...
many people already see it as "the easy way out" and it should never even be considered unless all else has failed and your at a serious health risk from your weight.

(i had Bypass with a bmi of almost 45)

[ogre]

Foxy, I agree that lap band surgery should be used only in the most severe cases, not as the easy way to lose fifty pounds or the like. A few years ago I read something about a man who weighed something like 600 or 700 pounds, something incredible like that. His plan was to manage his eating and start exercising and get his weight down to 300, and then get surgery so he could lose the rest of the weight. I read that and had a reaction like, huh? At 300 pounds, why not lose the last 100, 140, whatever, the same way he'd lost the first 400? Didn't make sense at all the way he planned to do it.

[lifelongMOgal]

If it came down to lap-band vs. a life with diabetes, then yes, I'd too choose the lap-band. I believe there is a certain point where one's body becomes out of control and even those who try to stay on a stringent diet are fighting against their pancrease and blood sugar to do so, especially those already too large to exercise effectively. We have a real problem with the preservatives in foods and our GMO foods which I believe are causing Americans in particular to gain and hold on to their weight.

Surgery should always be approached with extreme caution. However, isn't lap-band weight loss surgery more productive than those vanity plastic surgeries? Food for thought, so to speak. If the FDA wanted to be more productive in regard to weight gain, they would address those preservatives, GMOs and chinese glutens, IMO!

[nic529]

I don't think they should make it any easier to get any kind of weight loss surgery. There are way too many complications. I almost died. I didn't have the lapband, but each surgery has major risks. Even if they are rare, people considering any kind of weight loss surgery should know what the complications are and they should have to jump through hoops to prove they understand. If it becomes easier for people to have the surgery they will naturally think its because it must be safer than it used to be.