As a bariatric surgeon, I (Dr. Guillermo Alvarez) understand that the goal of gastric sleeve surgery is not just to help my patient lose weight and look better — it is also to improve his or her overall health. This includes helping the patient to manage blood pressure. Hypertension, the clinical term for high blood ...
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Preparing Your Body for Gastric Sleeve Surgery
Once you’ve made the decision to have gastric sleeve surgery, you’re probably focused on how life will be after. Will you really lose a bunch of weight? How will your life change for the better? (The answers are “yes” and “in too many ways to count,” by the way.) But before all of that can ...
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The Power of Non-Scale Victories After Gastric Sleeve Surgery
Even though I advise against being tied to the scale after vertical sleeve gastrectomy, I know many patients closely track how many pounds they’ve shed. Here’s the thing: When stalls happen, they can be depressing. They can even tempt you to go backward in your journey. But when the scale isn’t your friend—and you’re honestly ...
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Gastric Sleeve Vs. Gastric Bypass: Which is Right For You?
They’re two of the most popular bariatric surgeries available today, so is gastric sleeve or gastric bypass the best choice for you? When evaluating the pros and cons, it’s important to look at three key areas: the procedure itself, what recovery is like, and how the surgery affects your day-to-day life afterward. The Procedure Gastric ...
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Diabetes and Gastric Sleeve Surgery: Part 2
In the last blog, we began exploring the connection between vertical sleeve gastrectomy and improving or even eliminating Type II diabetes. Thanks to numerous scientific studies, with more appearing every day, we know for sure that VSG is a tool that’s been proven to have positive long-term benefits for diabetics. It’s much more effective than ...
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Diabetes and Gastric Sleeve Surgery: Part I
For years, my team and I have seen patients with Type II diabetes improve and even resolve this condition after gastric sleeve in our Mexico hospital. More and more studies are coming out every day to prove what we’ve known all along: vertical sleeve gastrectomy is perhaps the best tool in the fight against the ...
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Losing Pregnancy Weight After You’ve Had Gastric Sleeve Surgery
One of the “side effects” of vertical sleeve gastrectomy is being able to conceive more easily. In fact, a significant percentage of my female patients are referred by their obstetricians for this very reason. But what’s the process of losing that post-pregnancy weight if you’ve been sleeved? It depends on a number of factors—some that ...
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Common Misconceptions about Medical Tourism
Have you heard of medical tourism? Medical tourism is defined as the travel of a person to a place other than where he or she normally resides for the purpose of obtaining medical treatment. Most of my patients are medical tourists who travel from the United States for gastric sleeve surgery in Mexico. There are ...
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Bariatric Surgery Patients Less Likely to Develop Severe COVID-19
I pursued a career as a bariatric surgeon because of my desire to positively impact my patients throughout their lives. I know that weight loss surgery is about more than just the numbers on the scale. Bariatric surgery can extend a person’s life and improve its overall quality. A new study suggests that the benefits ...
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