Question:
Can Someone suggest a DR. in Texas that will perform this surgery on a 14 yr old.

   — Tiffany O. (posted on July 18, 2003)

July 18, 2003
As much as I am for weight-loss surgery, I am dead set against performing it on anyone under the age of 18. I've been obese all of my life too, so don't think that I don't know what it was like growing up fat. Besides the growth issue (My insurance company (Aetna) has as one of its criteria "Patient has completed growth (18 years of age or documentation of completion of bone growth)".), I really don't think that people of that age are psychologically able to cope with the life-altering aspects of WLS...JR
   — John Rushton

July 18, 2003
You would have to look long and hard to find a doctor willing to do this surgery on a 14 year old. If you do find one his/her reputation or abilities will probably by suspect. Remember the 14 year old will be subject to side effects not yet known because he/she will be living with the effects of this surgery for 60 years or more. In addition it is not unusual for fat kids to lose the weight as they enter adulthood. There are no studies documenting the what this surgery will do to a growing body or over 50 or 60 years of life.
   — Ron T.

July 18, 2003
I can't help you on Texas but you might try the Children's Hospital. The one in Cincinnati did one on a young girl. I don't know her age but she has had all kinds of problems. Vitamin B deficiency etc. She really was too young to understand the lifestyle changes. Heck I wonder sometimes if I am too young to understand the lifestuyle changes.
   — snicklefritz

July 18, 2003
That is just too young. She is the one who will have to live with these restrictions, and she is too young to really grasp the gravity of her committment. Unless they said she wouldn't make it to the age of 18, I can't imagine any surgeon doing someone this age.
   — bethybb

July 18, 2003
I had read that they dont like to do surgery on anyone under 18 because the internal organs and body hasnt finished growing.
   — wizz46

July 18, 2003
There was a Dr on tv just yesterday saying they will not do surgery on anyone that young. They are still growing and they still want to eat all the junk food other teens eat.
   — doodlebug

July 18, 2003
There are surgeons who will operate on kids under 18, but there are relatively few, so you will probably need to look beyond Texas. Dr. Ren, of New York University Medical Center, has operated on teenagers. I also remember reading of a surgeon in Oregon (perhaps Dr. Welker?) who operated on a girl in her early teens a year or two ago. Look in the library under "teenager" for more names or suggestions. My primary reason for responding is that I'm disturbed by the way other responders have dismissed your question. I was twelve when I stopped growing, and I was never more than 40 pounds overweight as a teenager, much too lightweight to qualify for surgery. Still, I suffered enormously. The pain of those years is with me still. I can only imagine what it must be like to go through the teen years morbidly obese. In addition to the emotional pain we've all known, today's obese teenagers face physical complications that my generation did not. When I was a teen, even the fattest kids did not contract Type II diabetes; these days, they do, and in increasing numbers. Can we so lightly dismiss the option of weight-loss surgery for a teen who's morbidly obese and an insulin-dependent diabetic? The "lifestyle changes" such a kid faces can make those imposed by weight-loss surgery seem light indeed. I don't question that there are issues as to growth and maturity that need to be considered when the issue is surgery on a child, but the consequences of a blanket rule of not performing this surgery on kids could be dire. For the morbidly obese teen who's already coping with diabetes and other complications of obesity, this surgery could be a lifesaver, just as it is for his elders.
   — Kay B.