With new bariatric programs for teens opening around the country, the question of teens and weight-loss surgery has been attracting a great deal of media attention. Bariatric experts are greatly divided on the issue of WLS for adolescents. Bariatrician Dr. Wendy Scinta, director of Medical Weight Loss of New York, believes that most adolescent patients have not exhausted other options available to them. Through her practice, Dr. Scinta has had patients lose in excess of 100 pounds and has seen reversals of diabetes, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure in teens.

Dr. Scinta believes vitamin deficiencies caused by weight-loss surgery can have lifelong consequences for teens, and that families should focus on lifestyle changes before surgery is considered.

To view a CNN report on teens and bariatric surgery featuring Dr. Scinta and other bariatric professionals, please visit Dr. Scinta interview on CNN.

image source: syracuse.com.

Was this article helpful? If so, comment below and let other users know what you think.

Resources

To learn more about teens and obesity, check out these titles on Amazon.com:

Fat Is a Family Affair, Second Edition: How Food Obsessions Affect Relationships, by Judi Hollis

Underage and Overweight: America's Childhood Obesity Epidemic — What Every Parent Needs to Know, by Frances M. Berg

image courtesy of article

The opening of the Teen Obesity Weight Loss Program at Denver’s Rose Medical Center has garnered criticism from other bariatric professionals.

Directed by Dr. Michael A. Snyder, the program includes several weeks of pre- and post-surgery counseling on nutrition, psychology, and behavioral change. “Being a morbidly obese teen is a  total nightmare,” says Dr. Snyder. He makes sure that patients are well aware of their responsibilities following weight-loss surgery and “are ready for a life-long commitment.”

Other bariatric experts, however, aren’t so sure that bariatric surgery is the best choice for teens. “It’s kind of young to be going through something so drastic,” says Dr. Wendy Scinta, a pediatric bariatrician who runs a weight-loss clinic in New York. “We need to give them a shot at doing something less aggressive at first.”

Scinta states she would recommend bariatric surgery for a teen only if the patients weighed in excess of 600 pounds and was “truly on death’s door.”  At her clinic, emphasis is placed on losing weight through exercise and healthy eating.

Other doctors say with teens, it can be difficult to discern the parents’ wishes from the patient’s when it comes to bariatric surgery. “For 40-year-olds, it is because they are choosing themselves to make themselves healthier,” says Dr. Scott Fisher, director of bariatrics at Penrose-St. Francis Health Services in Colorado Springs. But overweight teens may feel more pressured by society or by their parents to undergo surgery.

To read the full article, please visit Hospital opens bariatric program for teens amid controversy.

Was this article helpful? If so, comment below and let other users know what you think.

Resources

To learn more about childhood obesity, check out these titles on Amazon.com:

Underage and Overweight: America's Childhood Obesity Epidemic — What Every Parent Needs to Know, by Frances M. Berg

Obesity in Youth: Causes, Consequences, and Cures, edited by Leslie J. Heinberg and J. Kevin Thompson