Piedmont Medical Center has created a comprehensive weight-loss surgery experience.

Supportive Services  Our board-certified surgeons and team members work with you to create a customized, long-term plan to help achieve your weight-loss goals and live the healthiest life possible.

Experienced Physicians  Piedmont has performed more than 800 of the two most common surgical weight-loss procedures— gastric bypass and adjustable banding.

Gastric bypass is a permanent procedure that changes the stomach's structure, reducing the amount of food you can eat. In the adjustable banding procedure, a silicone elastomer band is placed around the upper part of the stomach to create a small pouch that holds limited amounts of food. Both procedures are performed using minimally invasive laparoscopic surgical techniques.

"Surgery is usually recommended for people with a body mass index (BMI) of above 40 or those with a BMI of 35 or greater with serious co-morbidities," says Alex Espinal, MD, also a board-certified surgeon on the medical staff at Piedmont, who performs bariatric surgery. "In general, this means men who are more than 100 pounds overweight and women who are more than 80 pounds overweight."

Guidelines recommend bariatric surgery only to those with a Body Mass Index (BMI) equal to or greater than 40, or equal to or greater than 35 with serious co-morbidities. Weight loss after bariatric surgery varies by patient.