Am I a Candidate?

In order to be a candidate for weight loss surgery, you must first meet all the following criteria:

• Body mass index (BMI) falling in one of these categories:
  • BMI of 40 kg/m2 or higher, or
  • BMI between 35 and 39.9 kg/m2 with significant obesity-related co-morbidities such as diabetes, hypertension, sleep apnea, or heart disease.
    
    Calculate your BMI
    See a diagram representing Body Mass Index ranges
• Failure of more conservative weight reduction alternatives such as supervised diet, drugs, exercise, and behavior-modification programs.
• Age between 18 and 65.
• Upper weight limit of 400 lbs.
• Absence of previous weight loss surgery such as vertical banded gastroplasty (VBG).
• Absence of previous major surgery on the stomach or esophagus.
• Absence of severe mental health illnesses.
• Knowledge and understanding of surgical risks and reasonable weight loss expectations.
• Motivation and commitment to diet and life-long follow-up.
• Compliance with treatments, preoperative diet and evaluations.

Patients who meet the initial weight loss surgery criteria are evaluated on an individual basis by the surgeon and the members of the bariatric surgery team. Patients must be found to be acceptable candidates based upon all the completed evaluations before being cleared for bariatric surgery.