Bariatric surgery: Am I eligible for it?

Need to lose a lot of weight? Determining whether bariatric surgery is right for you starts with assessing your body fat, says Dr. Daniel T. McKenna, a surgeon with Aurora BayCare Bariatric Surgery.

The key number is the body mass index, which is a person’s weight in kilograms divided by the square of their height in meters, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

 “If the BMI is 35 or greater with comorbidities (chronic health conditions) to match, such as high blood pressure, sleep apnea, type 2 diabetes, then you qualify” for bariatric surgery, McKenna says.

“If you have none of those comorbidities but have a BMI over 40, then you also qualify,” he says.

Those are national standards, set by the National Institutes of Health, and have been in place for 25 years. BMI is a reliable indicator of body fatness for most people, the CDC says.

What’s your BMI? Plug your height and weight into this BMI calculator and see for yourself.

You don’t need a referral to have bariatric surgery. We’ll coordinate your care with your doctor and your insurance company. To get started, call us for an appointment at 877-677-5384 or request an appointment online. To learn more, go to bariatricsgreenbay.com.

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