Amazing Story of Parents Letting Teen Get Lap Band After Lipo in Texas

According to ABC News a Texas family is defending their decision to let their daughter get Gastric lap band surgery a year after having liposuction and a tummy tuck. There is much debate about their decision since their daughter is only 13, and was 12 at the time she had liposuction.

It all started out in early 2006 when Brooke Bates weighed 220 pounds and her mother Cindy Bates gave in to her daughters pleas to do something about it. After paying $25,000 for liposuction and a tummy tuck, Brooke lost 40 pounds, and for that year she was happy. "It was the happiest year of her life and it was sad watching her, you know, struggle with trying to keep the weight off," Cindy said. In less than a year Brooke had regained 35 pounds. "So that's the reason we did the lap band so she could control her hunger and how much food intake she was putting in her body every day."

Doctors in the United States will not usually perform gastric lap-band surgery unless a patient is 18 years old, has a body mass index of 40 or higher or weighs at least twice his or her ideal weight. The Bates went against what their family doctor advised, and traveled to Mexico to get the surgery done. This procedure was $7,900.

So far Brooke has lost 15 pounds since she had the procedure done and hopes to lose 50 more pounds. After appearing on "Good Morning America" she said she feels "wonderful."

Even though Brooke's case seems extreme, many parents of children and teens are consenting for them to have cosmetic surgery, and during the last decade this has been on the rise, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. Many doctors worry that weight loss surgeries in young adults can be a problem in the long run and don't address underlying issues.

Julius Few, a plastic surgeon at Northwestern Medical Center said, "I think it is important to make sure that diet and exercise and lifestyle issues are addressed. I think surgery is really not the answer in this age group."

Though Brooke says her overeating is like an addiction, her mother says that she doesn't believe the problem is psychological, rather hereditary. Brooke believes that the surgery was not an "easy way out" and that she is determined to get to her goal weight.

Read the story and watch the interview at: http://www.txcn.com/sharedcontent/dws/txcn/austin/stories/080607kvuelapband-cb.b7ebb39.html

Sources: ABCnews.com and TXCN.com