Surgeon does not do Hess Method

Webmommy

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So I had consultation with Dr. Ayoola recently and it went well. I was surprised to find out that he doesn't do the Hess Method and bases his measurements on what he thinks will work best for you which is either 100 cm or 125 cm. He's concerned with me losing too much weight with the DS and so he will do 120 cm. He said surgeons who do the Hess Method round up or down to 100 or 125 depending on which is closer. That it wasn't exact.

He thought my goal weight should be no less than 160. I am 5 ft 6 with a big build and currently 275. Any thoughts on this not using the Hess Method?
 
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It seems all right to me. Also I don't have to stop breastfeeding either. I just need to stay on top of my vitamins and protein.
 
While Hess is ideal, my surgeon didn't employ that methodology. I have a cookie-cutter 100 cm common channel and am pleased with the results.
 
While Hess is ideal, my surgeon didn't employ that methodology. I have a cookie-cutter 100 cm common channel and am pleased with the results.

He said he saves the 100 cm who have a BMI of more than 50. I just want to lose weight enough to reduce my risk getting diabetes, high blood pressure and congestive heart failure like my parents. To get rid of a chin and hurt a little less would be nice too. I'm not trying to look like Tyra Banks.
 
More of us have a cookie cutter than a Hess. And most with a cookie cutter do just fine. There is the bell curve in all this...most of us fall in the middle area.
 
I think the Hess method is more important for people whose small intestine is on the extremes of the very variable length. I found this:
The post mortem average length of the whole intestine was 795.5±129 cm and was significantly longer in men and in young subjects. It was correlated with the subject's weight but not height. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that the factor showing the strongest correlation with intestinal length was body weight.
So the length (200 people measured) was between about 570 to 930 cm.

Another report (remember - measuring techniques vary - this was on live people intraoperatively):
Small bowel length was found to vary widely between individuals (average 998.52 cm, range 630-1510 cm). Linear regression analysis demonstrated a statistically significant relationship between small bowel length and height (regression coefficient = 0.0561, P-value = 0.0238). A linear relationship between small bowel length and weight or BMI was not observed.

Another one:
The small intestine has a huge variability in length among patients and can vary between 300 to 1,000 cm.

So widely variable, even between researchers. I think as long as they measure to understand how long your intestines are compared to average and take that into account if outside the average.
 
Interesting. I’m also 5’6 and would be pretty thrilled at 160 lbs. I was 260 on surgery day.
 
It's difficult these days to find a DS surgeon. It may be asking too much to get the surgeon and the Hess Method. Most DS are cookie cutter. Just make sure you emphasize that shorter is better than longer.

Here's the truth. Guts are sort of like earth worms. They move. You could put the 10 best DS surgeons in a room with 1 patient and ask all of them to measure a 100cm CC. You would have 10 different measurements.
 
I think the Hess method is more important for people whose small intestine is on the extremes of the very variable length. I found this:

So the length (200 people measured) was between about 570 to 930 cm.

Another report (remember - measuring techniques vary - this was on live people intraoperatively):


Another one:


So widely variable, even between researchers. I think as long as they measure to understand how long your intestines are compared to average and take that into account if outside the average.

I can't remember if he said he measured the whole small intestine. He did say the surgery would take 2.5-3 hours (or 2-2.5 hrs). I was expecting 4-5 hours. I will ask at some point.
 
It's difficult these days to find a DS surgeon. It may be asking too much to get the surgeon and the Hess Method. Most DS are cookie cutter. Just make sure you emphasize that shorter is better than longer.

Here's the truth. Guts are sort of like earth worms. They move. You could put the 10 best DS surgeons in a room with 1 patient and ask all of them to measure a 100cm CC. You would have 10 different measurements.

So it sounds like you are saying it almost doesn't matter if everyone does it differently. He might do 120 in me while stretching out the intestine and others do 100 cm while loosely stretching it out but my bowel would probably average out the same.

He may be worried that I'll lose too much but I honestly don't know what that notion feels like or if I can fathom the concept of losing too much. It's never happened before. I am very experienced in not losing enough or at all.
 
I want to add for posterity that everyone was great from office staff to the doctor and I felt confident and comfortable with my decision to do the DS. I felt like I could trust Dr. Ayoola which made me more suspicious because I am not a naturally trusting person. I'm glad I felt that way because I have had a rough time with doctors.
 
So it sounds like you are saying it almost doesn't matter if everyone does it differently. He might do 120 in me while stretching out the intestine and others do 100 cm while loosely stretching it out but my bowel would probably average out the same.

He may be worried that I'll lose too much but I honestly don't know what that notion feels like or if I can fathom the concept of losing too much. It's never happened before. I am very experienced in not losing enough or at all.
What matters most is what YOU do with your DS! I am just saying it's NOT an exact science.

Try not to fall into the trap of OMG I am losing too much! I can't even tell you how many people do this when they get close to goal. Actually your real target should be about 10% under goal because almost everyone has some bounceback. Anyway people drive themselves crazy over this and start eating. They stop losing. Then the bounceback happens. And here they are 2 years later still trying to lose the last 40lbs.
 
I had a cookie cutter 100cm and I'm currently 25lbs below goal (Surgeon's 3 year) and 5lbs away from my last goal I set for myself. My DS works great and I'm over 2 years out but I had a lot to lose...
SW: 398.8
CW: 145ish
GW: 140
I'm just under 5 foot 5 inches tall.
 

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