Mr Jenkinson runs regular weight loss clinics from his rooms in Harley Street, London. He will provide the most up to date advice on surgery, drug treatment and lifestyle and dietary changes to help you achieve your weight loss goals.
Bariatric Surgery
Surgical procedures to try and help a person to lose weight (also known as bariatric surgery) are becoming more and more popular. These procedures are safe, have a fast recovery, produce sustained weight loss and transform lives. The most popular bariatric operations at present are the Sleeve gastrectomy and the Gastric bypass.
Bariatric surgery will help dramatically improve a persons' health, particularly if they suffer with conditions associated with their obesity. These include type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, sleep apnoea and joint problems. Once a client has lost weight following bariatric surgery it is a pleasure to see them in the outpatients' clinic with their lives transformed and their confidence regained, having finally escaped the trap of obesity. Many people comment that their only regret with surgery was that they didn’t have it 10 years ago.
To be considered for weight loss treatment your body mass index should be in the obese range of over 30 kg/m2. There are lower thresholds of treatment depending on ethnicity.
BMI Calculator
Sleeve Gastrectomy
The sleeve gastrectomy is the most popular of the bariatric surgical procedures. Clients generally like the simplicity of it. It is a procedure that reduces the size of the stomach. No bypass or complicated joins of the bowel are required.
It is performed by laparoscopic (keyhole) surgery under general anaesthetic. The procedure takes less than one hour (usually around 45 minutes) and is perfomed via 5 very small incisions in the upper abdomen. Because the surgical incisions are so small there is minimal pain after this procedure and painkillers such as paracetamol are needed for only 5 days.
During the procedure, around two-thirds of the stomach is removed, changing its capacity from 2 litres to 2-300cc.
The sleeve gastrectomy works to produce sustained weight loss in two ways. The most obvious is the decrease in the capacity of the stomach, meaning less food can be consumed before fullness. The less obvious cause of weight loss is the change in appetite that this operation causes. The part of the stomach that is removed produces the bulk of the appetite hormone (called ghrelin). This hormone normally signals to our brain for us to eat, particularly if we are losing weight or we have skipped a meal. After the sleeve gastrectomy, the level of this appetite hormone falls dramatically meaning that the urge to eat is reduced. Many clients notice that as well as a decrease in appetite they develop a natural aversion to sweet and processed foods.
As part of the follow-up for this procedure you will receive support from me and my team of dieticians and psychotherapists for 5 year. This personalised and expert support and advice helps you to achieve the maximum lifetime benefit from this procedure.
RNY Gastric Bypass
I've been under the guidance and clinical care of Mr. Jenkinson for several years. He gives a focussed, personalised and compassionate service that stems from a comprehensive understanding of the complex issues surrounding individual and population-level obesity. I recommend him to anyone on the highest possible terms. He changed my life.
Gastric Bypass
The gastric bypass is performed via the same laparoscopic incisions as the gastric sleeve procedure, meaning that, just like the sleeve, postoperative pain is minimal and return to normal activities takes only a few days.
There are two different types of gastric bypass – the classical RNY bypass and the mini-gastric bypass. These differ slightly in outcome. The newer mini-gastric bypass (aka the one-anastomosis bypass) confers slightly more weight loss but the downside is that it has more long-term risk of developing reflux or bowel upset. Both types of gastric bypass tend to produce even more weight loss than the sleeve gastrectomy.
Just like the sleeve procedure, the bypass causes a weight reset by changing the hormonal messages that are received by the brain from the stomach and intestines. Appetite is reduced and a natural and pleasant feeling of fullness is increased after eating.
Just as with the sleeve, as part of the follow-up for this procedure you will receive support from me and my team of dieticians and psychotherapists for 5 year. This personalised and expert support and advice helps you to achieve the maximum lifetime benefit from this procedure.
Other Procedures
You may have researched other bariatric procedures and be interested in finding out about how effective these are.
The gastric band is an old-fashioned weight loss operation that is now rarely offered by specialised centres. It is much less effective than either the sleeve or the bypass and relies heavily on willpower to produce results as appetite, and the craving for high calorie food can increase following this procedure. It works by limiting the speed that foods can be consumed.
The gastric balloon produces weight loss my limiting the capacity of the stomach. Commonly it is poorly tolerated as the stomach cramps to try and deal with the balloon. Any weight that is lost tends to be regained following the removal of the balloon.
The endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty (aka ESG) is an endoscopic procedure that does not require any surgical cuts and so seems desirable for clients to consider. The stomach size is decreased by the placement of internal stomach stitches. The downside of the ESG procedure is that is has minimal effect on the appetite drives. Although some weight may be lost initially, just like with the gastric balloon it will invariable go back on after a period of time.
The safety profile of this procedure is also questionable. The serious complications of this procedure tend not to be published in the scientific literature (a phenomenon called publication bias). I would advise caution in selecting this procedure.