I was weighed at my dr's office. I'm a 5'5" female. Now 326 lbs. (a few years after the...

I agree with you re: a few things. Yes, both sides of every surgery should be spoken about. But I don't see you talking much about the positives of the DS (which are quite a few).

I also don't like recommending one surgery over the other. I can only speak to the one I had (and I'm a newbie at that), so I have limited experience. When I do extol the virtues of the DS, I also mention the need for greater supplementation and diligence when it comes to our health. 

The best thing we can do for people researching the surgeries is to list the pros and cons of each surgery (the ones that are widely accepted as FACT) and let them choose the surgery that's best for their given situation.

While you may have heard some stories of certain surgeons who do not perform the DS any longer (for whatever reason), I have stories of surgeons who prefer the DS over the other surgeries because of the success they have seen in their patients. Bottom line: anecdotal evidence is not evidence.

You claim only 50 surgeons perform this surgery. I'm not sure where you are getting this information from. OH has 149 listed, and I'm sure OH is not a comprehensive list.

I still have to disagree with you about the "highest risk". I think your information may be based on studies where the DS patients started off with higher BMIs than their RNY or VSG counterparts. This fact alone could be the reason they were considered "higher risk", not the fact that they had the DS (correlation vs. causation).

When you look at this chart (that's based on 19 different studies), it shows that the DS has a lower risk of failure and revisions than some of the other WLS.

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I don't have to speak to the positives of the DS- everyone else who has had a DS here does it for me in spades. The DS is substantially the highest risk WLS simply because of its extensiveness. 

What I personally think about the DS is irrelevant.

My objection is that the disadvantages of the DS are never acknowledged here, a person is never given the full picture. Instead a rosy wonderful testimony that the DS is the absolute best WLS ever picture is presented. That this picture is biased and one sided is just a fact.

The relative very small number of surgeons performing the DS is just a fact. That the DS  is the WLS surgery that is performed by far the least often of all the weight loss surgeries is just a fact. That it is high risk is a fact. That the DS is by far the most extensive and invasive weight loss surgery is just a fact. That the DS requires a higher surgical  skill level to perform is just a fact, which means it is the most complicated WLS with subsequent high surgical risk. That most Bariatric surgeons refuse to perform the DS is just a fact, and has absolutely nothing to do with surgical skill level of the surgeon as is frequently claimed here. That all of the weight loss surgeries require a high level of ha*****ange and daily maintenance for the rest of a person's life is just a fact. That all of the weight loss surgeries can be and often are sabotaged with subsequent regain is just a fact. That there is a need for a high level of personal responsibility in managing all of the weight loss surgeries is just a fact.

Most importantly, that we are all of us nonprofessional strangers over the internet, and that some of us are recommending a major invasive high risk permanent surgery to other strangers is just a fact.

That none of these facts are ever addressed here when trying to persuade someone of the advantages of the DS is just a fact.

Again, most importantly, that we are all of us nonprofessional strangers over the internet, and that some of us are recommending a major invasive high risk permanent surgery to other strangers we know nothing about other than what they post is just a fact.

That there are ethical and safety issues making those recommendations as nonprofessionals is just a fact.

Great Post Dana !!!!

I have to laugh when you keep trotting this out, as you either haven't read it, or don't understand it. 

"Quote from AMSBS clinical guidelines, 2013 update: "Physicians should exercise caution when recommending BPD, BPD-DS, or related procedures because of the greater associated nutritional risks related to the increased length of bypassed small intestine."     

Um, you DO understand that the BPD, and BPD-DS are completely different surgeries, and the BPS is basically not done now? And, by "related procedures" they mean RNY? 

Notice how she responds to every single post/point, except the ones that clearly point out that she's wrong??

Not a single person here has addressed the issues I am raising, instead you are bent on proving me wrong and discrediting me.

That is not a balanced, trained, expert, licensed professional approach, which is the point I am making. 

We are not professionals here, and people should not be considering the recommendations of amateur strangers over the internet regarding type of weight loss surgery a person, another stranger, should obtain.

No matter how much think we know or think we are right or want to prove our point or studies we trot out that support our own particular bias or point of view, we are not professional accredited Bariatric Surgeons.

Because most "issues" are ones you invented, or from a study that is completely useless because it lumps RNY, DS, and BPD together, and you don't even realize that. 

And yes, you give way too much advice for someone who is not only not an expert. 

In the U.S., maybe only 50 doing Lap DS.  Likely not more than 50 experienced doing Lap DS in the U.S.

I wish there was somewhere to get s definitive answer to this, but there's not. I see new DS surgeons popping up pretty often, but there's just not any sort of national register or anything. And it's hard to research, because of the surgeons who, as we in the DS community say, bait and don't Switch---they list the DS among the procedures they offer, but if you meet with them wanting a DS they'll do their damnedest to 'sell' you on a different procedure. Some of them will even go so far as to operate on you, and, when you wake up, give you all sorts of reasons they 'couldn't' do a real DS.

Do you think those vetted Bariatric surgeons' reasons for "selling" another surgery or not being able to do the DS once inside might be legitimate?