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 comorbidities such as diabetes, hypertension, sleep apnea, or heart disease.
    
    

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• Failure of more conservative weight reduction alternatives such as supervised diet, medications, exercise, and behavior modification programs.
• Age over 18 years.
• Upper weight limit of 400 lbs.
• The absence of previous major surgery on the stomach or esophagus.
• The 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.