A Wonderful Time to Consider Bariatric Surgery

By drdkim on August 5, 2008 at 9:56 pm

Welcome to our blog section of the website. My staff and I will hopefully find an interesting topic relative to bariatric surgery and we will write a new blog every other week. It also gives us a medium to speak directly to you in a format that is not in a support group or seminar. Thank you for taking the time to visit with us again.
” A Wonderful Time To Consider Bariatric Surgery” by David D. Kim FACS,
Center of Excellence Surgeon
I have had the privilege of being a surgeon since graduating from medical school in 1986. Dare I say , “In the Olden Days”, we believed in maximally invasive surgery. We were trained to make the incisions as long as possible to increase our exposure. Pain was an expected side effect from these surgeries. It often took 3 months for patients to recover and just return to work. Patients would often spend 1-2 weeks in the hospital routinely just to gain enough strength to return home. Our patients spent much of the time in bed. I performed my first bariatric operation in 1988 and because we routinely made such lengthy incisions, the poor lady didn’t (couldn’t) get out of bed for 5 days! I was thinking today of the marvels of modern medicine and surgery. Diseases such as breast cancer that often took the lives of so many women, as well as leaving them disfigured twenty years ago, today, can often lead to cures while leaving a woman’s dignity intact. In these past 22 years I have performed thousands of operations and have had the opportunity to see the amazing advancements in surgery as well. As a result of laparoscopic surgery, I present the argument that no other sub-group of patients have benefited more than my weight loss surgery patients. Twenty years ago, the same treatments we offer today would have been accomplished from a 10-inch incision and a week in the hospital on a regular basis.Today, I perform these surgeries through a series of 5 separate little incisions that are a 1/2-inch to 1 inch long. A scope is inserted that is attached to a camera. this image is projected to a high definition TV screen. Skinny, long instruments are introduced through the little incisions so my hands don’t even enter the body. There is a gentle manipulation of tissues that lead to far less pain than traditional methods of surgery. Wound infections and hernias are drastically reduced since lengthy incisions are avoided. Pain is tolerated so well after laparoscopic bariatric surgery, that in the case of my Lap Band patients, they go home the same day on minimal amounts of liquid pain medicine. Patients usually return to work in one week if they work in an office type setting. I’ve had Lap Band patients return to work as short as 2-3 days after surgery. Pain can also be reduced with removable pain pumps that trickle topical anesthetics through skinny catheters. Because I recognize the value of laparoscopic surgery, reducing pain and complications, I try to operate through the scope for all of my weight loss surgery patients. In well over 1500 bariatric surgeries, I have yet had to convert a Lap Band patient into an “open patient”. Of my gastric bypass patients, 99% have laparoscopic surgery. With gastric bypass, adhesions involving the small intestines usually account for the 1% of the open patients who elect to have this type of surgery. Not only are these operations minimally invasive and intrusive, but most importantly they work! They are tools for you to use and if you are committed to making a lifestyle change, you can achieve your weight loss goals. It truly is a great time in surgical history to consider weight loss surgery. It would truly be a privilege for us to help you accomplish these goals.

Posted in From the desk of Dr. Kim |