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Obesity Surgery

Pictures are a reminder Ramona Maltby, of Lakewood, New Jersey, doesn't need from her life-long struggle to lose weight.

Ramona Maltby, a StomaphyX Patient says "If it's out there, I have tried it."

In 2005, weighing 278 pounds, she had gastric bypass surgery and lost 100 pounds within a year.

Ramona Maltby says "My quality of life completely changed."

But her weight plateaued while she wanted to continue loosing and she started to gain a little.

Ramona Maltby says "You don't have that same feeling that you did in the beginning where you absolutely could care less whether you ate or not."

So last month, maltby had another procedure called stomaphyx.
It's a non-invasive, out patient procedure.

Her surgeon went in through her mouth, down her esophagus, and into her stomach.

Dr. David Ward a Bariatric Surgeon says "That stomach you make it smaller and by pulling tissue over the connection between the stomach and the small bowel it actually slows the time for the food to empty."

Ramona Maltby says "My goal was to lose another 30 to 40 pounds and I've lost 14 and a half."

But some bariatric surgeons question whether patients should be offered another surgery.

Dr. Greg Dakin says "Obviously these patients are looking for something, particularly the ones that have gained a lot of weight back, but it's unclear whether any procedure will offer them a long term solution."

Maltby says she's glad to know there's an option should she need to regain control again in the future.