Contact us

Insurance companies require that patients meet with these individuals before approving the surgery. Meeting with a bariatric dietitian is an important part of your weight loss journey and to begin to learn a new way of eating. If you do not follow the bariatric way of eating, you will not maximize your weight loss and will regain or stretch your pouch. A psychiatric evaluation aims to helps work out any mental health issues/concerns and help guide you to a commitment to a healthy lifestyle.

You may qualify for surgery if your body mass index (BMI) is 40 or more (about 100 pounds overweight for men and 80 pounds for women) or if your BMI is 35 to 40 with a serious obesity-related health problem such as type 2 diabetes, coronary artery disease, sleep apnea, acid reflux or hypertension.

Our surgeons will review your medical history and surgical history to help you determine the weight loss surgery that is appropriate for your lifestyle.

It is extremely important that you follow our liquid protein diet for 7-14 days prior to your operation to help reduce complications during your operation. A pre-op liquid diet helps reduce the size of your liver making it easier to perform surgery on your stomach.

Vitamin supplementation is important to maintaining lifelong health. There are special formulated vitamins for weight loss surgery patients and we recommend chewable Bariatric Fusion vitamins. These are sold at our office and online with our discount code.

Dr. Rodriguez and Dr. Straus will review all risks related to bariatric surgery. All risks are similar to any other surgery in the abdomen. Bleeding, infection, need for corrective

procedures, hernias, wound problems are all very low risks. Mortality risk after having a weight loss procedure of a bypass or a sleeve gastrectomy are less than 1%. Leak after a gastric bypass has a 1% risk and a sleeve operation has a 2% risk nationally

Smoking will increase all potential risks of surgery including death. Tobacco increases the risk for blood clot formation in your legs (deep venous thrombosis) which could lead to a pulmonary embolus, poor tissue and wound healing leading to a leak and infections, and anesthesia complications such as acute respiratory distress syndrome and pneumonia. Smoking will also cause gastric ulcerations and erosions in your new stomach pouch.

Gastric bypass patients lose between 50 to 80 percent of excess bodyweight within 12 to 18 months. Gastric sleeve patients lose between 60 and 70 percent of their excess body weight within 12 to 18 months.

Two of the top weight loss surgery procedures available today are gastric sleeve and gastric bypass. In some cases, however, our surgeons may recommend a duodenal switch. Our patients return to work in average of one week and are fully recovered in just two weeks with only a lifting restriction of four to six weeks after surgery.