Reader’s Digest, 29 October 2008

Losing weight is not easy. Gaining seems to be so quick and effortless but losing requires lots of good will and… a good plan.

Especially people with diabetes have weight issues. By losing extra ponds your blood sugar will be easier controlled, also your blood pressure and cholesterol will be lower.

How to start?

The very first thing to do is to set achievable goals. Researches show that people consider themselves to be successful after losing 50 to 100 pounds. Be reasonable and set a goal of losing 10 pounds at the beginning. Moderate weight-loss is much more beneficial especially for diabetes.

WebWire, 15 October 2008

Weight-loss surgery gives relatively quick effects. The body adjusts to the new system and, as patients claim, they tend to lose weight with almost no effort. Unfortunately, not everything looks that good. After the initial period after the surgery, patients’ behaviour needs changing in order to achieve a long-lasting success.

As Dr. Ajay Goyal, FACS, Director of Bariatric Surgery at Overlook Hospital said: “Weight loss surgery is not the end of the weight loss process, it’s the beginning. “Gastric Bypass, Lap Band and REALIZE Band surgery is only a tool to jump start weight loss. For long term success and weight maintenance it’s important for patients to adopt a healthy lifestyle, full of exercise and nutritious choices for life.”

BBC News 07/10/08
Soaring obesity levels look set to drain local health and public service budgets, which will mean higher taxes for all, experts warn.

Obesity could cost NHS in England £6.3bn by 2015 if no effective action is taken says the Department of Health.

Local councils in England and Wales are already shelling out tens of thousands of pounds on “fat-friendly” services, like widening crematoria furnaces.

This comes as work shows obesity levels may have been grossly underestimated. The Local Government Association, which represents over 400 councils in England and Wales, says that Britain is fast becoming the “obesity capital of the world” and even more must be done to stop the nation’s waistline continuing to expand.

10 October 2008 By Julie Wilson Sunderland Echo
Obese and overweight patients cost the NHS £245million across Sunderland and County Durham last year, according to a shocking new report.
But that figure could rise to £272million a year by 2015 if no action is taken to combat the problem, says the Government.
In Sunderland, the annual cost to the NHS of diseases related to obesity and being overweight was £88.4million in 2007, according to the Department of Health report.

EarthTimes, 08 October 2008

The latest studies show that injecting fat in breasts after the augmentation surgery can be safe and shows great effects. The study is controversial and will be discussed in further details by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.

The MD of the ASPS, Gregory Scott, says that the appearance of the breasts after fat injection would be much improved and make the patients really happy with the results. “The initial implant reconstruction sometimes leaves them with contour deformities or wrinkling, but fat injections can correct these problems and give their breasts a smoother, softer, more natural appearance,” he said.

PR Web - United Kingdom, October 12, 2008 –(PR.com)–
Due to the financial pressures on the UK National Health Service, the vast majority of patients who are urgently in need of Obesity Surgery are forced to pay privately for their operations.
Searching for the right option for private surgery can be difficult, and sometimes confusing. Prices vary enormously, as does the extent of care and support offered before, during and after surgery. Making the right choice when dealing with something as important as major surgical procedures is vital. Cost, though important, is only one factor when deciding where to go for safe surgery.

Following a BBC 10-o’clock news item on Thursday 9th October on the dangers of having Gastric Banding in Belgium, Cosmetic Bliss, who, of course, co-operate exclusively with Dr Michal Cierny PhD in Brno, Czech Republic for all bariatric surgery felt the need to respond.
Cosmetic Bliss hold no brief for Belgian Weight Loss Surgeons, and strongly support IFSO guidelines on appropriate BMI levels being used as a factor in risk assessment of patient suitability for surgery. All surgery performed under general anaesthesia carries a risk however, and the laparoscopic techniques used in Gastric Banding and Sleeve Gastrectomies, although proven to have several advantages over open surgery, are not risk-free. Nevertheless, under the care of an experienced specialist surgeon such as Dr Cierny, and with the support of a good surgical team the risks of surgery for a patient are much smaller than the risks involved in remaining obese. It is the duty of the surgeon and his team to make an assessment of a patient’s
suitability for surgery on the basis of this risk assessment.

Best Syndication 18 September, 2008

Liposuction as a quick way of loosing fat, is a very common cosmetic surgery these days. Thanks to the procedure the flat tummy and slim lights are possible to achieve.

The surgery is safer than other weight-loss operations but patients need to be aware of the potential risks.

The benefits of the liposuction are numerous. The surgery can be seen as a body sculpture as the doctor shapes the chosen parts. One of the differences between liposuction and other weight-loss surgeries is that here the last effect depends more on patients.

Economic Times September 25, 2008

Recent studies show that weight-loss surgeries assisted by a robot make the operation safer for patients.

605 patients took part in the research. Doctors at the Texas University Medical School analysed several factors such as operation times, how long the patients stayed in the hospital and what complications they had. The patients underwent either a gastric bypass procedure with doctors or with robotic help.

The major difference was the gastrointestinal leak rate. Six patients who underwent the operation without the robot’s assistance had this complication within 90 days after the procedure. Eric B. Wilson, the study co-author, said that even though the robotic surgery takes more time and is more expensive, the results are better and “decreased leak rates may offset the cost to some extent”.