Excess weight not only harms your health, but your quality of life. Our weight loss clinic is on the forefront of providing metabolic surgery for fighting the diseases of diabetes and obesity. Add years to your life with a healthier body so you can create more enjoyable memories with family and friends.
Our weight loss program is designed to fit each person’s unique needs and has helped patients regain their health. Our team includes a bariatric surgeon, nurse practitioner, nurses, a psychologist, exercise physiologists and insurance coordinators. With follow-up care from our team and support from others on the same path, clients can change their lifestyles and navigate the transition to a healthy weight and a better life. We combine the latest in expertise and technique with exceptional support. Surgical options include the following procedures:
Gastric sleeve surgery is a restrictive type of procedure that permanently reduces the size of the stomach, thereby limiting food intake as well as the sensation of hunger. The smaller stomach size restricts the amount of food that can be eaten, so patients lose weight by eating fewer calories. This procedure also impacts the production of ghrelin.
Originally used for patients with extremely high BMI that were deemed ineligible for alternative forms of bariatric surgery, laparoscopic gastric sleeve surgery is now a viable option for lower BMI patients as a restrictive weight loss alternative to gastric bypass and gastric banding procedures.
This is the most common type of bariatric surgery. During this type of procedure, part of the stomach is separated from the rest of the stomach and closed off with staples to create a smaller pouch, resulting in less calorie absorption. Patients also have a greater sense of satisfaction with less food. The surgery results in less production of ghrelin, a hormone that may be partly responsible for making you feel hungry.
In the procedure, the patient’s stomach is divided into two sections; a smaller upper section and a larger lower section. The smaller top segment, often called the pouch, is reduced to the size of a walnut, thereby creating a decreased appetite and only allowing for small portion sizes. The bariatric surgeon then connects a small portion of the patient’s small intestine to the pouch – consumed food will then pass through this new pathway and into the small intestine, and the patient’s body will absorb fewer calories.
If you’re in search of a minimally-invasive, highly effective, and even adjustable and reversible weight loss surgery, a LAP-BAND may be an option worth exploring. A Laparoscopic Adjustable Gastric (LAP) band is a small and flexible belt that is placed around the upper section of the stomach.
The LAP-BAND is made of silicone and featuring the ability to be tightened by adding saline to fill the band, it is connected to a port located under the abdomen. A LAP-BAND is designed to shrink and restrict the size of the stomach, and in turn the amount of food it can hold, while also substantially slowing the passage of food into the intestine. This allows patients to feel fuller faster, and consume much smaller portion sizes. And since the band can be adjusted, the size of the stomach pouch can be easily changed and altered depending on the patients’ changing needs.
A revision is a minimally invasive surgical option to modify or correct a previous bariatric surgery. There may be instances where some patients may need revision surgery for limited weight loss, weight regain, unresolved medical conditions, or complications. A conversion procedure replaces a previous bariatric surgery with a different procedure. Examples include replacing a Lap-band with a gastric sleeve or to a gastric bypass, or sleeve gastrectomy conversion to gastric bypass, especially in patients with insufficient weight loss, severe reflux, or gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).
New Mexico Bariatric Institute surgeries are performed at Memorial Medical Center.
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Body Mass Index, or BMI, is a measure of body fat based on height and weight. Many of our services are determined based on your individual BMI.
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