A California plastic surgeon is performing what may well be the most bizarre, and punishing, weight-loss procedure short of an outright limb amputation: tongue patches.
Since 2009, Dr. Nikolas Chugay has been suturing stamp-size patches of Marlex mesh to patients’ tongues.
The patch makes it painful to eat anything solid. The patient leaves it in place for a month or so — or less, if it becomes unbearable — while subsisting on an 800-calorie-a-day protein shake diet provided by Chugay.
The doctor and his son, Paul, also a doctor, say on their website that they have done this procedure more than 150 times. Patients typically lose around 20 pounds, and have flown in from around the country for the $2,000 procedure.
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