Surgical weight loss services offered in Portsmouth & Rochester
Choosing bariatric surgery, often called weight loss surgery, is a lifelong commitment and a decision to be made with care. The New Hampshire Medical and Surgical Weight Loss Center at Portsmouth Regional Hospital and Frisbie Memorial Hospital offers education, support and experience to help you make that decision.
When choosing which surgery option is right for you, our providers consider and discuss your individual needs and medical history. Our providers conduct a thorough medical evaluation and with a team approach, a nutrition and exercise plan will be provided to help with life-long success.
Our team offers support and the following services at both Frisbie Memorial Hospital and Portsmouth Regional Hospital locations:
- Pre and postoperative bariatric surgery care
- Meeting with the team of bariatric specialists, including our program surgeon, dietitian, social worker, and physical therapist
The bariatric surgery will be performed at Portsmouth Regional Hospital.
Your first step in determining if surgery is right for you is to register and participate in one of our free weight loss surgery online seminars. For more information about our bariatric surgery program, call (603) 433-4984.
The program at Portsmouth Regional Hospital is the longest standing program in the state of New Hampshire and offers education, support and experience to help you throughout your journey. Patients who undergo weight loss surgery at Portsmouth Regional Hospital see their lives transformed, with marked improvements in their health and quality of life! We are a nationally accredited program with the Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Accreditation and Quality Improvement Program, which means we hold the highest standard for quality and outcomes.
What is bariatric surgery?
Sign up for a free online or in-person weight loss information session
Bariatric surgery is the general term for a variety of weight loss surgical procedures reducing the size of the stomach, helping patients to lose weight, establish and maintain health through reduced consumption, healthy eating and exercise. The surgery is a tool, not a cure, to help treat weight problems. Our mission is to help patients transform their lives through surgical weight loss when nonsurgical attempts have been unsuccessful.
Surgical weight loss options
Our surgical weight loss procedures are performed using minimally invasive or laparoscopic techniques. This means major operations can be performed through tiny incisions with specialized surgical treatments. Our bariatric surgeons perform the following weight loss procedures:
- Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy: This procedure removes about 80 percent of the stomach — including the section that produces ghrelin, a hormone that acts on the brain to produce hunger — and changes the stomach to a tube shape.
- Roux-en-y gastric bypass: The first type of bariatric surgery adopted for general use, this procedure is performed by dividing the stomach into two sections, one of which becomes a new, smaller stomach that holds about one-and-a-half ounces of food. The bulk of the stomach remains in place without the capacity to receive food.
- Revision weight loss surgery: This procedure is performed on patients who have already undergone a form of bariatric surgery, experienced complications from bariatric surgery or have not achieved significant weight loss results.
Benefits and risks of bariatric surgery
For patients who are morbidly obese — usually defined as being 100 pounds or more over ideal body weight or having a body mass index of 40 or higher — it is harder to achieve sustained weight loss. In fact, there are serious health risks for people who subject their bodies to a severe and continuing cycle of weight loss and gain, known as “yo-yo dieting.”
Per the National Institutes of Health and the World Health Organization, bariatric surgery has been cited as the most effective way for morbidly obese people to lose significant weight permanently. Some 95 percent of bariatric surgery patients lose 50 percent of their excess weight and 85 percent of them lose at least 75 percent, all with a markedly improved quality of life.
As with any surgery, there are potential risks for surgical and long-term complications, which should be discussed with your doctor. However, for most patients, the risk of death from obesity-related health complications is greater than the risk of complications from bariatric surgery.
Your weight loss surgery team
As part of our commitment to integrative care, we understand the surgical procedure is only one part of the weight loss process. Our experienced, multidisciplinary team consisting of dietitians, nurses, social work, providers and surgeons, work together to help you understand your surgical weight loss options, guide you through the surgery process and prepare you for a new lifestyle.
We have helped more than 2,200 patients from the Seacoast region build a nutrition and exercise plan to guide them in their weight loss journey toward overall better health and longevity.
Life after bariatric surgery
The transformative weight loss journey requires work and commitment. A comprehensive program of nutritional counseling, support and a follow-up plan best accomplishes weight loss after surgery. For all the surgeries we offer, we include this kind of postsurgical care to ensure you are successful in your goals.
With bariatric surgery, there is also an element of commitment to significant lifestyle changes that must be considered. Long-term success is dependent on accepting new rules for eating and food selection, which is taught in the follow-up period after surgery.
