WLTZ 38 | Columbus Georgia Regional News & CommunityObese teens turn to drastic weight loss options

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Some teens are going to drastic measures to control their weight.

Doctors have seen an increase in the number of young people turning to things like gastric bypass and lap band procedures. But is that the right decision at such a young age?

For as long as she can remember Ivannia Hernandez lived with a heavy burden. Always overweight, by 17 she weighed almost 340 pounds.

"I thought that people weren't really looking at me, they were kinda looking at everything around me, I guess, so..yeah," says Ivannia.

She says she tried to lose weight.

Ivanna says, "I've been to so many programs, so many weight loss programs, I've been to the gym, and it was just like, I was never seeing results."

But finally turned to surgery. Four years after gastric bypass she weighs 150 pounds less.

One of a growing number of teens choosing so-called bariatric surgery for weight loss, some as young as 14.

Dr. Gonzalez says, "The bottom line is that when these patients have reached 300 lbs and they're adolescents and they have full bone maturity, they really act like adults."

The increase in surgeries comes as childhood obesity reaches epidemic proportions.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, 12 and a half million kids aged 2 to 19 are now considered obese. Almost triple the number from 1980.

But doctors caution weight loss surgery is no magic bullet at any age and should only be used as a last resort warning for some teens it could mean a lifetime of complications

At Child Health Care of Atlanta, teens have to go through a months long program including psychological counseling before even being considered for surgery.

For Ivannia, it was that life and death decision; that she says finally gave her a life.

"I think that I took the best risk of my life and it actually caame out to be a blessing in disguise. I'm here, andi'm happy, I'm enjoying life to the fullest," says Ivanna. 

Now lighter in so many ways.