Bariatric Surgery in Los Angeles, California

Weight Loss Surgery
How far would you go to lose weight? Some people in California are so desperate to shed those unwanted pounds, they’re undergoing a surgical procedure that makes eating solid foods incredibly painful.
Weight Loss Surgery
More than 60 patients of plastic surgeon Dr. Nikolas Chugay, who has offices in Beverly Hills and Long Beach, have elected to have a patch surgically applied to their tongue.
Weight Loss Surgery
That’s right – a tongue patch. On his website, Dr. Chugay said it’s designed to “make chewing of solid foods very difficult and painful, limiting the patient to a liquid diet.”
Weight Loss Surgery
Now, seldom do I get outraged – actually, that’s not true – I get outraged a lot. But when I see physicians creating therapies that are potentially dangerous to patients, I cannot help but to criticize them.
To me, the oath “do no harm” is something every doctor must live by – and what separates good medical practice from the bad, is that good medical practice is founded on solid research and strong scientific foundations.

Weight Loss Surgery
But before going any further, in an effort to remain fair and balanced, my producers reached out to Dr. Chugay for a statement.
In a phone interview, he said he originally came up with the idea when he was traveling south of the border.
“A colleague of mine was doing something similar in Mexico,” he said. “Of course we need FDA-approved material. That’s why we use prolene mesh, which is the same material used for hernia repair. It’s a very strong material.

Weight Loss Surgery
 We use prolene sutures as well because it doesn’t cause a lot of inflammation or irritation to the tongue.”
Weight Loss Surgery
OK, so he uses FDA-approved material – but what about the potential complications from the procedure itself? When I first heard about this, all I could think of was bleeding, potential damage to the tongue and the risk of a severe infection – which could cause a patient to require corrective surgery.