BMI

When you think about our practice, do you think of us as “Birmingham Minimally Invasive Surgery,” or do you call us “BMI”? Many people refer to us simply as BMI, and this is by design. 

While BMI is a shortened name for our practice, including the keywords “minimally invasive,” it also stands for “body mass index.” Body mass index (BMI) is a tool we use to help us make an initial assessment about whether or not a potential patient is a good candidate for weight loss surgery. You can even try an assessment yourself on our website where we have a BMI calculator available. 

So if we choose BMI — short for Birmingham Minimally Invasive and body mass index — as our name, you can bet that it’s important to us. Here’s a little more information about why.

More about body mass index

Body mass index is a measure of body fat based on height and weight that applies to adult men and women. We want to note that BMI is not a diagnostic tool. It is a starting point for us in looking at each person’s individual health. 

BMI basics:

• A normal BMI is between 18.5 and 25
• A person with a BMI between 25 and 30 is considered overweight
• A person with a BMI over 30 is considered obese

In general, the higher your BMI, the higher your risk of developing a range of conditions linked with excess weight. This includes diabetes, arthritis, liver disease, several types of cancer, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and sleep apnea.

According to the National Institutes of Health, obesity and being overweight combined are the second leading cause of preventable death in the United States. They estimate that approximately 300,000 deaths each year are due to obesity. 

Typically, the higher the BMI, the worse a patient feels and the more limited they are in having an active lifestyle. When BMI goes down, these factors tend to improve as well.

More about Birmingham Minimally Invasive 

When you have a procedure at Birmingham Minimally Invasive Surgery, our goal is to make your recovery as quick and painless as possible. We accomplish this by taking a laparoscopic approach. Rather than creating large incisions, our surgeon, Dr. Long, uses minimally invasive techniques that involve small tubes, a video camera, and small surgical instruments. 

Smaller entry points for the surgery make for a faster recovery and a much lower chance of infection. Using traditional “open” techniques, patients frequently see recovery times of six to eight weeks. With minimally invasive techniques, the patient can be back to work in four to seven days.

Minimally invasive benefits:

• Less pain
• Reduced scarring
• Lower risk of infection
• Less blood loss
• Shorter hospital stays
• Quicker return to work
• Less occurrence of post-operative incisional hernias

When it comes to minimally invasive techniques, Dr. Long is the best. He is an award-winning laparoscopic surgeon specifically trained in this approach for bariatric surgery. He has performed thousands of procedures using this technique, helping countless patients across the nation. He performs minimally invasive surgery on an inpatient and outpatient basis. Dr. Long has been performing weight loss surgery since 2002 and has had outstanding results. 

If you are interested in working with Dr. Long to determine your BMI and then go from there to explore the options of gastric sleeve surgery, gastric bypass, LAP-BAND, and more, contact us today.