Age and VSG

 My sister and I have recently had our surgery. July 12, 2011 Since I am down 62 lbs and am loving my sleeve. My sister has also lost 60+ and we went through with pretty much no complications. My question is. Has any one out there had this surgery done at 75+ years of age. My mom is overweight and has been since she started having kids. She is Healthy gets around she has had a hip replacement but other then that pretty healthy. She is active she takes care of her 2 great grandbabys age not quite 2 months and not quite 2 years old. so as you can see she is in pretty good shape. She would like to have this surgery but were not sure if she is to old. Gettitn the extra pounds of would make her life much easier plus she will also be healthier. Cancer runs in our family pretty bad. I am a breast cancer survivor myself and knowing that obesity does have a connection with cancer. It makes me wonder! 

 Hi there.  Glad to hear you are doing so well with your surgery.  As far as the age of a WLS patient I can tell you that I met a lady who had RNY with my doctor and she is in her 50's and she told me that our particular doctor would not operate on anyone over 60.  I would suggest that you call around and ask doctors in your area if they are willing to take on a patient who is 75+.  

That is a question for her surgeon to evaluate. I don't think a question like that can be answered by age alone.

We do know surgery becomes riskier with age, but on the other hand, I had my VSG at the age of 48 and before surgery my "real age" generated by a health calculator was 55, and now is down to 46.

I think phred (username) was 70-ish when he had the VSG. You might want to contact him.

You go through a lot of health screening for surgery so if she's HEALTHY and heart in good condition, blood pressure under control, I see NO reason why she wouldn't be able to have surgery.  If she's interested call a doctor and find out!

Ms Shell

I'm 56 and had surgery in 8/11.  The program I had my surgery with has a general cutoff age of 65, but they wil consider people over tha age on an individual basis.  So, I would check with the surgeon and other programs in the area.

 Thanks guys for the input. I think I will see if she wants to go to the seminar I first went to and we will go from there. She actually is in good condition for her age no high blood pressure no heart problem just carrying about 80lbs to many!

Also look in the search engine for a poster called Old Medic.  I'm pretty sure he was mature when he had it.  Maybe not 70's but 60's and he lost all his weight. Good Luck to your mom.

 When I was looking into this surgery, I was turned down by one Dr. and hospital as their linmit was 60.  They recommended another surgeon who was quite positive about VSG for me.  I had absolutely no complications with the surgery and I met another woman at the Dr's support group who is 78 yrs old.  She looks fantastic - having lost over 100 pounds.

I say, check with the Dr and see what he has to say.  He's going to do a physical and health history.

Good luck.\

I believe that my doc has done some in the early 70's, and his statements on his website indicate that above 75 age is more of an issue, so it sounds like age is just one more factor influencing the overall health and strength of the patient.

If you don't find any luck with local surgeons, it may be worth going farther afield and seeking out some of the more experienced VSG and DS surgeons (since the DS uses the VSG as its basis, long time DS surgeons have lots of experience doing sleeves and may be more amenable to taking on the more difficult cases than a relative sleeve newbie, even if he is well experienced with other bariatric procedures.)