minimum BMI to be a DS candidate?

Hey there, i Know the DS is normally reserved for higher BMI patients however i was just wondering whats is the lowest bmi that a surgon will opearte on. I have a BMI of 39 but with no comorbities in otherwords im obese but otherwise healthy.

First, good luck finding a DS surgeon in Australia. From what I've heard, there aren't any. Whatever you do, don't let some jerk do a BPD (aka Scopinaro) procedure on you. The reason very few surgeons (in the USA, at least) do this anymore is that it caused lots of problems with nutrition and diarrhea. The DS is a much more modern operation that avoids these problems.

Next, there is no minimum bmi for the DS other than the minimum bmi for bariatric surgery, in the standard NIH criteria:  40 or above, OR 35 - 39.9 with a serious comorbidity. If you have a bmi of 39 with no comorbidities, you don't qualify, medically, for any form of wls at all. Again, I don't claim to know how things are done in your country. I can only tell you that in the USA, no insurer would pay for your wls because you lack "medical necessity". Could you find someone who would take your cash and operate on you? Sure! But medically, you are close but not there.

Larra

In the US it's 35-39BMI with comorbidities and 40 and higher without having to prove cormorbidities. I understand that Mex and Brazil may have a lower BMI requirement.  

--gina

thanks, yah its hard my heaviest Bmi was 45 and would have been higher had i not stopped drinking a tonne of coke a week etc, then i lost some weight but i definately need surgery its just genetics ive been fighting all these years to try and get slim .

Yah in Australia its even harder then the US, at best you can get a sleeve gaestrectomy, they wont even do a gastric bypass unless the lap band or gaestrcetomy fail and obviously i wana get the best procedure done to never fight obesity again and those 2 options just arent gona cut it.

Im gona get the operation done in India or Mexico so far im just deciding the best choice between either the DS or the gastric bypass fobi pouch (silastic ring) as these two options give the best results over the others. If i have to put on weight for the DS then so be at it i put on weight so easy its not funny.

You might want to check the surgeons on www.dsfacts.com. Several folks on the DS Facebook group chose Dr Baltazar in Spain or Dr Marchesini in Brazil. Dr Ungson in Mexico is excellent as well.  Please think twice about the Fobi pouch. It's very hard to revise to something else.

--gina
 

Please don't get a Fobi! That silastic ring can cause some serious problems on down the road. We had one young man here to got a Fobi, lost all his weight, then developed problems with his Fobi and got revised to a DS at a BMI in the normal range---which tells you those problems were SERIOUS.

Hi There!  I was a BMI of 41 (considered a lightweight) but had other co-morbitities; diabetes, sleep apnea, high cholesterol and high BP (all of whch have been resolved!)

You probably will have a hard time finding a surgeon to operate with no co-morbities, because this is a very involved surgery. The surgery and recovery were really rough, but having said that I am grateful that I was able to have have it.

Good luck!

Sarah had her DS done in Australia, but don't know who her surgeon was.  It was 4 yrs ago.  I can contact her on FB and find out.  I know that some folks here have added a roll or two of quarters during their weigh in to pop over to a 40 BMI.  I was a lightweight at 39, but had comorbids...

Thanks guys, really helful info!

Hi Sarah the only surgeon in Australia is Stephen Blamey for the DS. Im gona contact the office tomorrow becuase his website states only the lap band so im not sure but as far as i can see the DS is coming out on top in all factors so why its not really performed here i dont know.

I apologise Chris for calling you Sarah i read your post wrong, thanks, Clint.