Weight loss surgery for teenagers increasingly popular, docs say

Hell was a department store dressing room for young Mariana Castrillon.

One of her earliest memories is of being around age 6 and 80 pounds and attempting to try on an orange and pink “Dora the Explorer” bikini that she desperately wanted to wear like other kids her age. 

“That was the bathing suit I wanted. I couldn’t have it because I couldn’t fit in it,” Castrillon, now 19, told The Post.

Her weight struggles started very early. She went on her first diet at age 6 and enrolled in dance classes to burn calories, but it didn’t work.

“I was always the tallest one and the biggest one in my class,” she said, recalling a boy on the bus measuring his much smaller thighs against hers and how ashamed she felt. “It was insecurity after insecurity.”

In 2020, by the time she was 16, she weighed more than 300 pounds. A doctor referred her to the Adolescent Healthy Weight Program at Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital at NYU Langone in Kips Bay, which provides surgical weight loss treatment for teens 13 and older with a body mass index of 35 or higher. Castrillon’s was 49.

Weight loss surgery for teens is becoming increasingly common. The number of adolescents between ages 10 and 19 who had metabolic or bariatric surgery increased by nearly 20% between 2020 and 2021, according to research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Pediatrics last month.

This past January, the American Academy of Pediatrics issued its first detailed guidelines for treating childhood obesity, in kids as young as 2. The organization now suggests that doctors consider weight loss drugs for patients as young as 12 and surgery for severely obese patients as young as 13.

“Our kids need the medical support, understanding and resources we can provide within a treatment plan that involves the whole family,” said Dr. Sarah Hampl, a lead author on the guidelines.

“There is no evidence that ‘watchful waiting’ or delayed treatment is appropriate for children with obesity,” said another guideline author, Dr. Sandra Hassink.

But others say that while weight loss surgery is general safe for those who qualify, procedures come with risks and potential side effects including acid reflux, inability to eat certain foods, infection, obstruction of stomach and even failure to lose weight, as well as long-term risks like hernias or ulcers in some cases.

And while surgery can help limit intake of solid foods, changing abnormal eating behavior is a lifestyle change that must occur before and after surgery, doctors emphasize.

But, it seems to have worked for Castrillon. In the fall of 2021, she underwent sleeve gastrectomy, a minimally invasive procedure inside the abdomen and pelvis without large incisions in the skin (laparoscopy) removing up to 80% of the stomach.

She quickly lost a substantial amount of weight — 40 pounds in just two months.

By spring of 2022, her glitter-decked prom dress that wouldn’t zip before surgery fit like a glove. It was her Cinderella moment.

“It was the most amazing $500 I ever spent,” she said of the dress.

Dr. Jun Tashiro, the pediatric surgeon who operated on Castrillon and serves as surgical director of the Hassenfeld Adolescent Healthy Weight Program, notes that surgery isn’t a quick, easy fix.

“I certainly don’t recommend surgery for everyone. Surgery itself is a big commitment. You have to restrict your diet prior and you have to restrict your diet after words primarily for safety,” he said. “We don’t want to rush anyone into this. Our multidisciplinary team meets on a weekly basis saying, ‘OK, this patient needs a little more time with psychology, or this one meets all the criteria.’ We go through everyone on a case by case basis.” 

This summer, more than a year after her 90-pound weight loss and weighing 212 pounds at 5-foot-5-inches, Castrillon is more confident than ever, playing rugby and studying to be an English teacher at Buffalo State University.

“Things started getting easier for me when I had the surgery. I started building my own confidence. I didn’t have to worry about how much food I was consuming to make sure I was full,” said the rising sophomore. “I had my first boyfriend in college. I was working two jobs. I became an RA this semester. Life is so good … I’m just grateful that I’m able to experience life this way.”