After struggling with weight gain in her early teens, Alejandra Hernandez was 17 in March 2019 when she underwent a form of bariatric surgery known as gastric sleeve surgery.
“Ever since having the surgery, a lot of people asked me like, 'do you recommend it?' And I say 'I do, I do recommend it,'” Hernandez said. Now 21 years old and in nursing school, Hernandez says she’s been off prediabetes medications since her surgery and hasn’t needed an inhaler for her asthma in years.
“To this day, I’m so grateful. I think about what my daily life looks like and how it would look life if I didn’t do it,” Hernandez said.New guidelines released this week from the American Academy of Pediatrics say teens age 13 and over with severe obesity should be evaluated for surgery.“We're not talking about serving up medications when you first walk in the door. We definitely do a lot of other things before we even start having those conversations,” said Dr.