34-stone teenager undergoes gastric surgery to save her life

A TEENAGE Scottish girl who weighed 34 stone had to undergo surgery to save her life.

The 16-year-old, who is thought to have been one of Britain’s heaviest teenagers, underwent the treatment to fit a gastric band at Glasgow’s Gartnavel Hospital within the past year.

The surgeon who fitted the gastric band around her stomach was David Galloway. He told the Daily Mail that the girl had reached 34 stone purely by eating too much.

He said: “People of this weight only get to this stage by taking in huge amounts of calories. They eat in the same way as others abuse alcohol or tobacco.

“Generally, we would be discouraged from operating on people under 18. This is the only under-18 case I have ever done.

“But I know some of my colleagues are looking at the possibility of more such procedures on adolescents.”

Mr Galloway added that a decade ago he only dealt with the “occasional” obesity surgery case, but he now has a waiting list of 120, highlighting the increasing problem of obesity in society.

The unnamed 16-year-old had a Body Mass Index (BMI) of around 60, according to the paper. A person is considered obese if their BMI is more than 30.

Gastric banding is usually done by keyhole surgery and takes between 30 and 60 minutes to complete.

The operation involves placing an inflatable band around the top of the stomach to create a pouch with a narrow opening.

The width of the opening limits how much a person can eat by making them feel full.

According to healthcare provider Bupa, an estimated one fifth of men and a quarter of women are obese, and 24 million adults are overweight in Britain.

In 1980 only 8% of women and 6%% of men were classified as obese.