We understand how difficult weight loss can be. Even with the best of efforts, managing your weight can involve frustrating ups and downs, and can even feel hopeless at times. Weight loss surgery (also known as bariatric surgery) offers an opportunity to reset your weight to a point where it's more manageable. Surgery can also greatly improve your health and quality of life.
We also recognize that the idea of weight loss surgery can be intimidating for many. However, most people who have weight loss surgery keep the weight off long-term and, often, their only regret is that they didn’t do it sooner.
Decades of Experience
Our specialists include surgeons, physician assistants, registered dietitians and psychologists. We are all clinical experts in our fields and we work together in collaborative teams. We are one of the largest, most comprehensive and innovative weight loss surgery programs in Boston and are currently accredited through the Metabolic and Bariatric Accreditation and Quality Improvement Program (MBSAQIP), an honor given to only the best weight loss surgery programs in the country. We have trained bariatric surgeons across the country and performed several thousand procedures, and our extensive research initiatives into clinical outcomes continuously improve care and lead to new innovations.
Minimally Invasive Approaches
All of our weight loss surgeries are done in a laparoscopic (minimally invasive) way using state-of-the-art technology. This means your surgeon uses just a few dime-sized cuts. Because it is a minimally invasive surgery, there is a shorter recovery time compared to traditional open surgery. Patients are discharged from the hospital after 1 to 2 days. Following surgery, we'll provide ongoing nutritional and dietary guidance to help you keep the weight off and identify strategies to ensure you maintain your new healthier lifestyle.
We offer the following weight loss surgical procedures:
- Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy: In this procedure, surgeons remove the outer section (or crescent) of the stomach. The smaller stomach that remains looks like a narrow sleeve. This surgery reduces how much food the stomach can hold by 75 percent. This treatment also affects the hormones that control appetite, so you feel less hungry.
- Laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery: In this procedure, surgeons reduce the size of the stomach by about 90 percent. The smaller stomach that remains looks like a pouch that’s about the size of an egg. The new stomach pouch is then connected to a lower point in the small intestine, so that food bypasses (goes around) the upper part of the small intestine. This surgery works by limiting how much food your stomach can hold and changing how food is absorbed.
- Revision surgery: Patients who’ve had a previous weight loss surgery can receive adjustments to that surgery in the form of reversals, modifications or conversions from one type of surgery to another. Each revision case is unique and our expert revisional team—one of the largest and most experienced in the region—can work with you to evaluate your options.
Extended Support for Our Patients
Additionally, our Weight Loss Surgery program includes:
- On-demand online information sessions, available in both English and Spanish
- Virtual information sessions, led by one of our surgeons, with all the information you need to get started. Virtual sessions are also available in English and Spanish.
- Convenient locations across Boston and eastern Massachusetts, including Boston, Jamaica Plain, Westwood, Foxborough and Weymouth
- Pre-operative Weight Reduction (POWR) classes that help you prepare for surgery, if your insurance requires them
- Help with navigating health insurance approvals and requirements
- An online support group and an informal mentoring program where new patients can connect with other patients that have gone through our program
- Ongoing clinical consultation and guidance from our dietitians, psychologists and physician assistants
- Ongoing weight management support from our entire care team to help ensure your long-term weight loss goals are achieved and maintained
