Is Bariatric Surgery Right for Your Overweight Teen?

Is bariatric surgery right for your overweight teen? My initial answer was absolutely not but after researching the data available on this issue I can see that in some situations this drastic surgery may be a viable option for a morbidly obese teen or tween's health. But I urge parents to exhaust all possibilities before considering this life changing and dangerous surgery for your child. Research all the information available, consider that there have not been any studies done to date on the long-term effects that this surgery may have on children and then make an informed decision. This is not an easy solution to an obesity problem, it is one that will have life altering consequences.

The information that changed my "absolute no" to a "sometimes" involved data from the research collected by the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. They have been following nearly five hundred teens who have received either gastric bypass or gastric band surgery for a year. These teens were at risk or were already developing medical issues associated with obesity: high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease. They were at risk of dying. Researchers found that a year after surgery, these teens had lost on average 50 pounds and their health had improved greatly. It should be noted that one of the teens did die six months after surgery. Many researchers are concerned that this procedure disrupts the absorption of nutrients which will effect the growth of these children. Since these studies did not look at long term effects, this suspected side effect has yet to be researched. A case may be made for waiting until your child has stopped growing if that doesn't somehow put them at greater risk of stroke, heart attack or diabetes.

This choice will require your child to make difficult diet and life style changes after the surgery. A component of getting this surgery requires that the patient meets with a counselor and a nutritionist.

The question that continued to jump to my mind was "why gastric bypass instead of gastric band for teens when the gastric band is reversible?" I couldn't find an answer to that question.