Treating morbid obesity: Success stories
MANILA, Philippines - In 2003, a general and cosmetic surgeon, Dr. Ferdinand Samonte of De Los Santos Medical Center in Quezon City, started practicing, aside from cosmetic surgery, laparoscopic or “keyhole” surgery (small-incision surgery using special instruments, having been trained by a professional team of Lap-Band surgery experts, namely Prof. Dr. Paul O’ Brien of Monash University of Melbourne Australia and Dr. Ariel Ortiz Lagardere of Mexico City). He wanted to introduce to the Philippines a scientific breakthrough surgical procedure to treat morbid obesity called the Lap-Band System.
The Lap-Band System involves using an adjustable gastric banding, called the Lap-Band, that goes on the upper part of the stomach to reduce the capacity of a patient to eat, allowing him as well to “feel full” even after eating just a small amount of food. The procedure is completely reversible and there is no cutting of the stomach and no stomach stapling involved.
Today, Dr. Ferdinand Samonte is known in the weight loss industry as the pioneer of Lap-Band surgery. He performed the first Lap-Band surgery in 2004 on Anna Poco who was then in her 40s and suffering from diabetes and other obesity-related commorbidities. Her doctors were telling her that her problem was really severe obesity because obesity not only caused other diseases but was in itself a disease.
Ten years after her Lap-Band surgery, Anna weighs 122 pounds from her pre-surgery weight of 190 pounds in 2004. She feels healthy, full of energy. and is at the prime of her life. “The Lap-Band changed my life and I am thankful to Dr. Samonte for the post-operative management, care, and support that he gives to his patients,” Anna relates. “I have a deep-seated joy in my heart knowing that I would never be fat again. All those years that I looked like a jolly, fat person, I was really miserable inside,” she admits.
Anna, 54, is a breast cancer survivor as well. “The cancer that I had was obesity-related. After the cancer, I prioritized my health. I realized that I owed it to myself to feel and look good.”
Anna exercises regularly and now enjoys doing physically challenging activities like mountaineering, which she never even dreamt of doing when she was severely obese.
In 2009, Antonia Lugtu followed in the footsteps of her sister Anna. “I decided to have the Lap-Band because my weight kept on going up and it even reached 170 pounds. Currently, I weigh 107 pounds which was exactly my weight before I had my first pregnancy,” says Antonia. “I think this is the best decision that I have made in my life as there was a time I felt I wouldn’t get thin anymore. My anxious waiting for a weight loss solution is over. I have often told myself that if I only knew back then that life with the Lap-Band would be this great, I would have done it even earlier.”
The Lap-Band is a registered trademark of Allergan Incorporated, which was recently acquired by Apollo Endosurgery. There is also the BIB System (BioEnterics Intragastric Balloon), which is known in certain regions of the world as the ORBERA Intragastric Balloon, a non-surgical weight loss procedure performed worldwide by bariatric surgeons and gastroenterologists that involves placing an endoscopic balloon that stays in the stomach for six months for obesity treatment.
To know more about the genuine Lap-Band, visit the website at www.totalobesitysolutions.com. Patients may also text or call the BIB & Lap-Band Center, the source of the genuine BIBs and Lap-Bands in the Philippines, at cell phone +63917-5272263 (0917-LAPBAND) or email bom@aemed.biz.
