About 2,000 overweight and obese Americans had bariatric surgery last year. Now a San Antonio surgical team is offering a new approach to the gastric lap band, and they are seeing great success with their patients. Stepping on the scale is exciting these days for patient Tiffany Flowers. At 38, she decided to take a radical step to win her lifelong battle with her weight. "I’ve done pills. I’ve done Weight Watchers. I’ve done Slim-Fast. I’ve done fasting. I’ve done it all," she said. Nothing worked for long. So Flowers opted for the procedure called the REALIZE Adjustable Gastric Band. It is a surgically implanted device to help patients achieve major weight loss. Dr. Michael Seger, a bariatric surgeon says, "It goes around the top part of the stomach, and it buckles in place. It has a balloon inside, and the balloon is tightened over time in order to decrease the amount of food the patient will take." After surgery, patients are monitored by x-ray to see if their band needs adjusting. If it needs tightening, the doctor simply injects saline into a tiny port embedded in the abdomen. No further surgical procedures. And on their own, each day, patients monitor their progress with a personalized Internet program. Flowers can even see what she will look like in just a few short months. "I know that I can enter my weight. It tracks my weight. I can log in my exercise that I do for the day. I can log in a food log, a food journal everyday. I can get recipes, all sorts of things." Flowers said. "It’s like the follow-up appointment that never ends. I tell patients it’s like a little Dr. Seger that you can put on your shoulder that goes around with you all day," Seger said. Since her surgery in late December, Flowers has lost 19 pounds. Her goal is to lose 70 to 80 pounds and to get off her high blood pressure medication. "I can really reach my goal of being healthier," Flowers said. "It’s definitely empowering."
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