Surgical obesity ‘cure’

sir – Monday’s paper (March 19) carried a report saying that vast numbers of teenagers are obese and in need of bariatric surgery.

In my experience, not only is this line of treatment risky, but it does not treat the underlying problems behind a social disease of epidemic proportions, which can include mental illness. Long-term success is therefore not guaranteed. A very high proportion of those treated achieve dramatic short-term weight loss, followed by the slow return to obesity.

Rather than asking surgeons to treat society’s ills with a scalpel, we must seek effective, non-surgical solutions. Dr John Mark

Grindleford, Derbyshire