Weight Loss Tongue Patch: An Alternative Nonsurgical Method to Aid in Weight Loss in Obese Patients

Abstract

Introduction: Despite efforts on the part of patients, some are not able to achieve significant weight loss because of poor compliance with balanced diets and exercise programs. The tongue patch is a means of ensuring that the patient abides by a strict low-calorie diet plan to achieve maximal weight loss, while engaging in a moderate exercise regimen. Materials and Methods: A retrospective chart review was performed on patients who underwent the tongue patch procedure from 2009 to 2013. All patients had a piece of marlex mesh affixed to the tongue using prolene sutures. At the 30-day mark, each patient's weight was recorded. Data were then tabulated. Complications were also identified from the patient charts and analyzed. Results: A total of 81 patients received the tongue patch. Mean weight loss was 7.26 kg (16.0 lb; range = 0–16.8 kg/0–37 lb). The total weight lost by all participants was 501 kg (1104.5 lb). The average starting body mass index was 32.4 kg/m2 (range = 24.3–45.3 kg/m2) and average change in body mass index was 2.9 kg/m2 (range = 0–5.1 kg/m2). No serious complications were noted. Conclusions: While maintaining a strict low-calorie diet plan and adhering to a regular exercise regimen, patients using a tongue patch can achieve significant weight loss over a 30-day period with relatively minimal procedural risk.

“Guess Who?” in the Creation of Hazardous and Non-Hazardous Diets through History

“…This category grouped 20 out of 179 studied diets. Among treatments of this category, the use of vomiting [155][156][157], exercise [158], repeated brisk 42 km walks from Athens to Megara at progressively increasing speeds in some patients [159], urine [160], sea-bathing [161], exercise, baths, venesection and purging [162], phlebotomy [163], saline [164], chewing many times [165], tapeworm [166], changing the mind [167], hormone human chorionic gonadotropin [168], sleeping more hours than normal and to achieve this, sedatives [169], two brackets which are attached to the upper and lower teeth (without the need for anesthesia or surgery) and connected to each other through a thin wire in order to maintain the jaw in its proper position [170], nasogastric tube [171], placing a mesh of more or less rigid surgical material on the surface of the patient's tongue by means of staples or stitches, making it impossible to eat solid food [172], cotton ball [173] or an operation as follows: 'doctors prepared very long, thin needles and pushed them through the hips and belly of Dionysius when he had fallen into a deep sleep. They inserted the needles from top to bottom into the insensitive (and, so to say, alien) flesh of the tyrant.…”

Persistent weight loss with a non-invasive novel medical device to change eating behaviour in obese individuals with high-risk cardiovascular risk profile

“…Another group studied a tongue patch for impeding swallowing combined with a low-calorie diet. Within the very small number of patients available for follow-up, 84% of patients maintained their initial weight loss during 3 months to 4 years [ 32 ] with high drop-out rates.…”

Curiosities of Weight Loss Diets of the Last 60 Years

“…This diet is also known as the linguistic mesh diet, the sublingual mesh diet, the local mesh diet, the miracle patch, the Chugay patch, and the slimming lingual mesh diet. It was developed by Dr. Nickolas Chugay [332]. It involves placing a mesh of more or less rigid surgical material on the surface of the patient's tongue using staples or stitches, making it impossible to eat solid food.…”