Teens turn to gastric banding as obesity solution
Overweight children as young as 12 are opting for controversial surgery to shed extra kilograms.
Gastric banding operations have been performed on more than 100 teenagers in the past year.
In her two decades Hande Cinar has lived two lives, one before bariatric surgery and one after.
“I started going up to 80, then 90, then 100, I’ve never been so big,” Ms Cinar said.
“I used to eat two large wraps, 10 pack nuggets, two large chips, one coke and I still wasn’t full.”
She reached 120 kilograms, doubling her weight between year 6 and year 9.
The condition resulted in relentless bullying, and when she was too ashamed to attend her formal, Hande dropped out of school.
“You have to put your child’s health first, that’s what we did,” her mother Emel Cinar said.
They found Doctor Michael Talbot, an expert in weight loss surgery.
“Their quality of life is very similar to adolescents with cancer,” Dr Talbot said.
Gastric banding has been performed on children as young as 12, with experts warning untreated obesity puts patients at risk of diabetes and heart problems.
The surgery in adolescents is fairly uncommon but the number of cases increases each year.
Doctors estimate around 130 Australian teenagers were operated on in the past 12 months. But it's expensive and out of reach for many families.
"The thing that will really make things work is if we can get obesity management clinics in every public hospital,” Dr Talbot added.
The rest however, is up to the patient.
Hande will spend her life watching what she eats, but she did eventually make it to a school formal.
