Bikini sleeve trend, to not think it deserves so much praise!

[marbleeffect]

Huge trend here at the moment of several Mum friends / colleagues going to Egypt for the fashionable new trend of having a Bikini Sleeve operation. I have 4 friends and several more acquaintances that have had it done recently. Off to Egypt they go, return home, disappear for a few weeks then slowly reappear several stone slimmer. The 4 friends I know have lost 33 stone between them.
AIBU to think having this procedure done doesn't deserve as much adoring praise as it gets?
Lots of FB / Insta comments of "Well done!"
They are all in debt from having it done and now considering getting in more debt for follow up operations to rid them of the excess skin.
I'm probably very naive at the recovery process, I've no doubt it is difficult and painful but I worry about the example it is setting.
Thoughts?

For anyone who is genuinely interested in an expert view (and it's a good watch):

m.youtube.com/watch?v=VwSz7SuHs9w&pp=ygUeQmFyaWF0cmljIHN1cmdlcnkgZGljdW1lYW50YXJ5

Yes, people lose sight of this simple solution . I'd rather do this than surgery, hard as it is. " ooo but my metabolism is damaged because of a lifetime of dieting " stick to it and it will happen saving you from diabetes etc or a fortune in surgery, it's complications and a future of teeny tiny portions.

Yes, people lose sight of this simple solution . I'd rather do this than surgery, hard as it is. " ooo but my metabolism is damaged because of a lifetime of dieting " stick to it and it will happen saving you from diabetes etc or a fortune in surgery, it's complications and a future of teeny tiny portions

It would be a further of "teeny tiny portions" anyway, to even attempt to tackle obesity through dieting, to no avail.

Once people are obese, that doesn't work. It just doesn't. There's too much metabolic resistance. Patients try and try and beat themselves up when it doesn't work,

Some NHS trusts are offering the surgery with fantastic results (including in future NHS savings). Most trusts don't offer it.

The NHS can't afford to keep people alive let alone pay for gastric band surgery (which might keep people alive longer term). Look at the poor girl whose spinal surgery was cancelled so many times she's now inoperable.
If people can pay for it then it takes the burden off the NHS and I doubt Egypt is any worse than an NHS hospital these days. In fact it is probably cleaner and better staffed.

Ask her to join this group on Facebook where thousands of people have been abroad or had it done in the UK via the NHS/privately. No judgement here. https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=395769989660180&set=p.395769989660180

Don't be silly.

We pay for teenagers to have gender reassignment procedures. We pay for lesbians to have donor sperm and IUI, to make up for the fact that can't conceive for free. These might be nice to do (or not, depending on your view) but they don't save the NHS money the way weight management surgery can.

The bariatric medicine procedures more than pay for themselves. They save the NHS a fortune over the mid to long term.

The only other obesity intervention that has any kind of evidence base supporting its use is the GLP-1 agonist drug class (Saxenda, wegovy etc) and that's not so effective for the higher bands of overweight.

British trained (or has become an expert by furthering his studies in British hospitals). Very well thought of in the weightloss surgery circles, no deaths, known for no leaks (something that is very dangerous post wl surgery) Regular on the lecture circuit in the UK.

It's the catching international flights within days of surgery business that is worrying. Then the follow up & after care. There's nothing inherently concerning about Egyptian surgery.

The NHS may not do bloods/B12 injections, although my GP is delighted I’ve pretty much resolved my medical issues and was extremely keen to organise follow ups. If there’s an issue beyond the initial residual gas pain which can last a few days-mine was minimal and disappeared after some simple walking/swinging arms/hot water bottle-then of course you can access the NHS if you’re unwell. The group I linked has recommended surgeons in the UK and abroad. Research is key.

@LiterallyOnFire

drtamerabdelbaki.com

It's called a Bikini Sleeve on the famous Dr. tamers own Website. Not a name I've chosen!

No I didn't think it was you. Still a ludicrous but of marketing. There is much to be gained than nice bikini photos. It's a public health issue.

I do sympathise with you if your socials are full of "Bikini sleeve - you go girl!!!" Very grating and trivialising.

I booked another renowned surgeon abroad, Dr Tuna in Turkey, following extensive research. I then cancelled because I’m not good flying and would have been travelling solo. I then took out a policy with Vitality, the only health insurance that offers weightloss surgery in the UK. It was £2600 for a bypass (slightly more now).

I wasn’t prepared to wait for years on the NHS (up to 4 years, no guarantee of patients ever getting to Tier 4 which is surgery). I was sent to a very local private hospital and have had lots of follow ups from the surgeon who I believe is Sri Lankan-just saying that because people seem to be doubting the expertise/care of foreign surgeons on here-and operates at a major city hospital also.

Since my surgery last year, I’ve lost 8 stones. I had previously lost similar through diet and extreme exercise and it all went back on following multiple medical issues/an incident which limited my mobility. I was in hospital for multiple problems some months before the surgery. I could not have done it again through exercise.

I believe it is a life saving/life extending operation. I was a size 26 last July, now a 16, so still a way to go, it’s now a question of self control/new habits, massively supported by physically being unable to overeat.

Oh so you can make excuses got your own kid but everyone else is just fat and lazy.

Give over.

Coming on here acting like it's awful to be fat then dropping you have a fat kid.

But they do?

I've had NHS aftercare for 3 years now without any issue at all?

Some GPS are refusing follow up procedures given the recently published guidelines. As you can read from my posts, I am fortunate to have a great GP who has helped enormously but the new guidelines state that the GP does not have to do follow up bloods/B12. This is extremely common according to the group I linked, with reference to private surgery or for those who've gone abroad.

@Candleab But you asked @theeyeofdoe a question about whether her son had any conditions, she answered you and now you don't like the answer?

Your surgery has worked for you, her Sons exercise and eating less has worked for him.
It's obvious you're fiercely defensive about your chosen weight loss surgery but not very respectful of others chosen methods.

RE Dr. Tamer

"British trained (or has become an expert by furthering his studies in British hospitals). Very well thought of in the weightloss surgery circles, no deaths, known for no leaks (something that is very dangerous post wl surgery) Regular on the lecture circuit in the UK."

It seems that Medstudent12 can't get her head around the fact that some Egyptian surgeons are excellent.

@marbleeffect I think it's more the fact that the poster has been slating fat people, saying how awful they look and then it turns out their son was overweight. When it was him it's justified and he has his multiple reasons why he was overweight, but when it's someone else they are just fat and lazy...

I don't think @Candleab sounds defensive. She sounds irritated by the moralising and condescension.

@Candleab will be familiar with the science if she's had the procedure (it's part of the education and counselling that candidates are given) and once you're aware of the medical research underlying the inesity medicine discipline, then listening to all this moralistic twaddle is like eavesdropping on a bunch of medieval witch-hunters conducting a trial. Or flat earthers, or victorians insisting suicide is a sin, or something.

It's all just so much uneducated wittering, and really not helpful to the public health message. One wonders whether some of these posters go though life telling anorexics to pull themselves together and just eat.

How does it stop you from being addicted to food? Genuine question. At some point is the sleeve removed? Hypnotherapy might be a better alternative to stop binge eating.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=VwSz7SuHs9w&pp=ygUeQmFyaWF0cmljIHN1cmdlcnkgZGljdW1lYW50YXJ5

It's a really good film. Not hard going but very informative.

BTW, you can't "remove the sleeve" or reverse the operation. Gastric sleeve surgery means cutting away more stomach than you leave behind and stapling the cut edge so it becomes a "sleeve" rather than stomach shaped. It's a serious surgery.

I have a friend who underwent this surgery some years ago and you wouldn't recognise her. She went blonde and took up all sorts of sports and so on. It transformed her life and outlook.
She was morbidly obese and very unhappy before.

Sean Murphy, the Snooker player, had this procedure, after lifelong struggles with weight. He is quite open about it and I think (hope) is happier and doing well.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/snooker/63373974

Most people who are overweight/obese are not 'addicted to food', we as a culture and country just eat too much of the wrong things, its a simple as that. We are not physically nor psychologically different to the vast majority of humans around the world

A sleeve is misnamed, gastric sleeve surgery removes around 80% of your stomach so you dont have the big bulge at the bottom of your stomach where food sits, it turns it into a sleeve shape.

Its not reversible but there is a new sleeve surgery which is, which essentially just sews up your stomach so that its in the same shape as a sleeve, smaller, and enables weight loss in the same way. I dont know how effective that one is.

This, this!!!

Society hates fat people

Society hates fat people that lose weight the 'wrong' way.