Everyone Is Beautiful On the Inside

By Darryl A. Hill, MD

Laurel Medical Associates, LLC

. http://laurelmedicine.com

More Weight Control, Nutrition & Exercise Articles

Everyone Is Beautiful On the Inside

For many overweight people, surgery can be the first step in the process of finding inner beauty. Obesity not only affects your physical health, but it also affects your mental health. Many people gain weight and it becomes a vicious cycle where they develop low self-esteem, low self-confidence, and low self-worth. People become disgusted with themselves, feel lethargic, and stop exercising.  They continue to eat and continue to gain weight. The cycle continues and they feel even worse, both physically and mentally.

Sometimes all it takes is for something to break that cycle. Everyone is beautiful on the inside, in his or her own way. Unfortunately we live in a society that often focuses on outer appearance. Overweight people often feel ashamed, depressed, and despondent. They try diet after diet but without durable success. Obesity not only affects the individual, but it affects loved ones (parents, siblings, spouses, children) and friends. One of my patients who is 5’2” tall and weighs 250 pounds won’t even let her husband see her without her clothes on. Just think about what type of stress that must put on a relationship.

It doesn’t have to be that way.   There is a way to break that cycle, and surgery can be the answer. All of my patients have tried diets, diet pills, and exercise programs. Some lose weight but most people can lose only 10% of their excess body weight by dieting and exercise. Of the people who actually lose 10% of their excess body weight, only 5% of them will keep the weight off for more than five years.

Obese people now have a minimally invasive surgical option. Compared to gastric bypass surgery that involves stomach stapling and intestinal rerouting, this minimally invasive approach results in fewer complications and shortened hospitalization and recovery time.  It is called the Adjustable Gastric Band (AGB). The surgery is performed through tiny incisions and is basically an outpatient procedure. The AGB creates an earlier feeling of fullness and limits food consumption. It is adjustable, reversible, and there is no cutting or stapling of the stomach and no gastrointestinal rerouting to bypass normal digestion. The AGB is the number one choice in the world for surgical treatment of obesity.  This surgery is now available in the U.S. and since the FDA’s approval in June 2001, use of the gastric banding system has been rapidly growing in the U.S.

The biggest satisfaction I receive, however, is not measured in pounds or inches. It is from the fact that my patients feel better than they have in years, most of them are starting to regain their self-confidence and their self-esteem, and they are finally starting to feel good about themselves.  For the first time, for many of them, they are truly beginning to recognize their beauty within.