Northwest Texas Healthcare System is the first medical facility in the Texas Panhandle to offer bariatric weight-loss surgery, also known as gastric bypass. If you are severely overweight and have tried for years to lose weight with diets or medications, bariatric surgery may provide the long-term weight-loss results you need.

Each procedure is customized for the individual, employing the Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, which has been performed for 20 years. We caution that bariatric surgery isn’t a quick or simple weight-loss solution.

Patients must change their eating habits and become more physically active if they want to lose weight and keep it off. Those who make the commitment and are successful at losing weight often experience a dramatic improvement in their health, self-image and wellbeing.

Northwest’s bariatric surgery patients participate in a follow-up program that provides the information and support they need to achieve their goals.

Bariatric surgery is covered by most insurance companies. Financing options are available for those without insurance coverage.

Weight-loss surgery has been endorsed by a consensus panel of the National Institutes of Health as the only effective means of achieving significant long-term weight loss for most patients with severe obesity.

Severe obesity (morbid obesity) is defined as being 100 pounds or 100% above ideal body weight according to the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company tables. It is also defined as having a Body Mass Index (BMI) over 35 to 40 kilograms per meter squared.