Birmingham bariatric surgeons, Dr. Les Miles and Dr. Lee Schmitt, of Alabama Weight Loss Surgery, recently performed their 1000th laparoscopic adjustable gastric band procedure.
Gastric banding is an outpatient procedure for the treatment of clinically severe obesity. An adjustable band is surgically placed around the top of the stomach which reduces hunger and the amount of food eaten.
Though bands were developed and in use in Europe since the mid 1980’s, the FDA did not approve their use in the U.S. until 2001. Dr. Miles was the first surgeon in Alabama to perform gastric banding, placing a Lap-Band in early 2002. The Lap-Band’s success led to competition from Ethicon, a Johnson and Johnson Company, which received FDA approval for their Realize Band in 2007. Dr. Schmitt was the first Alabama surgeon to perform the Realize Band procedure. Dr. Schmitt is bold in his explanation for the popularity of gastric banding, “they work”. Dr. Schmitt continues, “Diets, exercise and drugs are not effective treatments for this life threatening disease, weight loss surgery is. I challenge any doc in a box or weight loss clinic to compare their short and long term results with ours. Gastric banding is an incredibly safe procedure and it and other bariatric procedures are the only meaningful hope for the severely obese to lose weight and keep it off.”
