Gastric Banding.

As I peruse the papers this wet and dreary morning, I am once again gasping at the decisions some folk make in response to gaining weight. Apparently-according to the Independent...

"AT least 10 young Irish women have undergone a surgical procedure in the past week to have a band wrapped around their stomach in order to lose weight. The news comes as a shocking survey released last week shows how the majority of Irish women are becoming unhappy with their body image from as young as 13.
The procedure called 'gastric banding' is relatively new to Ireland and is proving to be so popular among young women hoping to lose weight that one of the country's largest cosmetic surgery companies, Advanced Cosmetic Surgery, has said they are now carrying out 450 ops a year.

Now Irish women who are a size 16 and over, some of who are only in their 20s, are turning to the surgical procedure in their quest to be thin.

And Advanced Cosmetic Surgery have reported that they are moving premises in order to cope with the demand.

"We're creating a new hospital to cope with the demand. I am re-allocating the hospital and building a purpose-built centre to accommodate our clients," says company boss Halina Ashdown-Sheils.

Although size 16 is now considered to be the average dress size for women in this part of the world, more and more women who are unhappy with their weight are taking the plunge and opting for the keyhole surgery.

"It's is not people who are massively obese who are going for this procedure. People who are massively obese go for ballooning (another weight loss procedure) to get their weight down to an acceptable size so they can go under the anaesthetic (and then have the banding surgery)."

One of the women to have undergone stomach banding is Fiona Doyle. The 40-year-old was the first person in Ireland to have had the procedure and has spent over €36,000 over the past two years perfecting her looks.

Speaking afterwards she said: "After I had a tummy tuck, it was so easy that I thought there was nothing wrong with trying to improve what you had. I was just getting more and more compliments. It just encouraged me to keep at it."

Experts say you should be at least 100lbs over normal weight to consider this surgery.

Ms Ashdown-Sheils say that the surgeons employed by the company will not operate on any woman who has a dress size under size 16.

"There is absolutely no way we would accept a size 12 or 14 for this procedure. The surgeons wouldn't even look at them. They'd tell them to get on a diet and go to the gym".

Jesus Christ on a bungee cord. Size 16 is hardly dangerously over weight. What any surgeon is doing operating on a woman who is size 16 is beyond me? Why any woman would risk a surgery to lose weight is beyond me too. This isn't just some mickey mouse quick fix, this is an invasive treatment that was originally developed to treat morbidly obese people whose health was in serious danger. It was never meant to be a quick fix for chubby women/men who can't be arsed losing weight the old fashioned way.
I'm not sure I get cosmetic surgery anyway. I don't understand why any woman would go, have her chest cut open and have two bags of plastic/silicone inserted and then stitched back up. I don't understand it, I really don't. I don't get labia trimming, I don't get skin bleaching, I Don't understand lip implants-I have never seen anyone who got their lips done that looks better, just odder, I don't get...calf implants? WTF? Who looks down at their legs one day and thinks, 'golly, my calf is looking a tad droopy and the other one's not so hot neither, I know, I'll get implants!'
Whatever. At the end of the day, people are going to do what people are going to do, but getting surgery to lose a few dress sized strikes me as a poorly thought out exercise.
Look, this is what it entails, from the surgeon's website.

"Gastroplasty is a surgical procedure which modifies the original shape of the stomach. The word "gastroplasty" is a Greek word composed of: gaster = stomach and plasti = modification of shapes.
There are two gastroplasty techniques: the adjustable gastric banding technique (95% of gastroplasties) and the vertical banded gastroplasty. The former is described hereafter.
In this surgical procedure the stomach is partitioned in two parts,a 15 cc small pouch (about 3 soup spoons), and the rest of the stomach. The objective is to limit the amount of food.
The adjustable gastric banding technique is a reversible and minimally surgery when performed by experienced surgeons. It is used in 90% of surgical obesity treatments.

Once the small pouch is filled up, you have the feeling of being full, and you are no longer hungry.
The ring is connected by a small plastic catheter to a subcutaneous container system. This will permit adjustment by tightening or loosening the ring.
Since the diameter of the ring is small (5 mm),the flow of food from the small pouch to the rest of the stomach is extremely slow.
It is therefore understood that following surgery, the patients will rapidly feel full with a small amount of food."

Okay, so operation, pain, and inability to go for fish and chips thereafter, oh yes. Sounds cracking wild fun. Three spoons you say? Limit the amount of food? Hummm what does that translate to? Eat less? No surely not, that can't be it? Can it?
No one needs to tell me how bloody tedious it can be to shed weight, or train, or find yourself in a squall running up the side of a hill. Nobody needs to mention how much arms and backs can hurt after a particularly hard session in the weights room, how your legs can shake for up to an hour after weighted squats, it's minging sometimes. Keeping fit and losing weight is not nearly as much fun as eating chips, toast with an inch of butter on it and necking creamy delicious pints, it takes commitment, dedication and the ability to kick your own arse up out of the chair. But it's worth it in the long run. And it doesn't involve a general anaesthetic.

Unnecessary surgery, I"m bloody well against it!