About Us
Michael is an experienced endoscopist and also highly experienced in open and laparoscopic surgery, has over the years performed more than 5000 laparoscopic operations for gallstones, hernia, reflux and weight loss. He has been lucky to straddle the era when major abdominal surgery transitioned into major laparoscopic surgery giving him skills in both open and laparoscopic surgery.
He also has an appointment at North Shore Hospital (Te Whatu Ora Waitemata) was a previous Clinical Director and over the years has trained many upper GI and Bariatric Fellows who are now practising consultants in New Zealand and overseas. He is a member of a number of Surgical Societies.
He has lead Bariatric clinical research at North Shore including Randomised Controlled trials for the treatment of obesity and Type 2 diabetes as well as antireflux surgery trials. He is particularly interested in the long term outcomes of surgery and has published on this.
He is an Affiliated Provider with Southern Cross Health Care.
“We need to look at our outcomes to look forwards in our practice”.
What We Do
We are a specialist surgical practice offering up to date laparoscopic (keyhole) surgery for patients with
A Hernia is an abnormal protrusion through a body space such as the abdominal wall. Whilst some do not require treatment, others require their hernia repaired because of hernia symptoms. These include ditstressing swelling, pain and discomfort, interference with lifestyle and risk of bowel strangulation. An individual tailored approach to each hernia is required. Types of hernia include:
- Inguinal hernia
- Umbilical hernia (Belly Button) hernia
- Incisional hernia
- Hiatus hernia
- Internal hernia
Mesh is often needed to perform a safe and durable repair. Mesh has received bad press because of complications in womens’ incontinence surgery. Reassuringly these problems are seldom seen in our hernia repair patients. Mesh is a finely woven suture material(either polypropylene or polyester) with wide pores which is well incorporated into tissues to provide strength and an earlier recovery for patients with less pain. In general hernia suture repair(without mesh) is inferior to mesh repair unless the hernia defect is less than 1 cm in size.
Gallstones are common in our population. Gallbladder symptoms can include severe upper abdominal and chest pain as well as more serious conditions including acute cholecystitis, cholangitis and pancreatitis. Treatment includes removing the gallbladder via laparoscopic surgery as it is diseased and produces the gallstones.
Acid Reflux(Sometimes abbreviated as GERD or GORD) and Hiatus hernias are very common. Sometimes patients will require surgery(hiatal herniorraphy) because their symptoms cannot be controlled well medically or the patient does not wish to take lifelong medication.
Obesity is a serious disease and for those patients who are unable to lose weight by conventional means we offer a range of services including medical management and pharmacological therapy supervised by our bariatric physician Dr Chaey Leem (www.medicalweightsolutions.co.nz) to surgery which includes laparoscopic gastric bypass and laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy. We have intensive dietitian, psychologist and nursing support. We encourage our patients to attend or participate online in our monthly support groups to help you on your journey.
We offer support groups for our patients who have undergone weight loss surgery. There is a 2 year programme with monthly meetings run by our psychologist and dietitian which we encourage all of our patients to participate in.
A problem shared is a problem halved.
Testimonials
There are so many things I can now do: I can cross my legs, I can kneel and crouch when gardening, I can run throuh the park, bike ride by the sea and can skip down the front steps.
There are also the things that I don’t do now: I don’t grunt when I get down to the floor, I don’t need an extender belt on the plane, I don’t see myself in a shop window and think Dear God, you are fat. I see myself and, if I think anything at all, I think, I am ordinary, I am normal, I am like other people.
I started at 160kg and now weigh 97kg. At one point I got down to 92kg but my wife said I was too skinny!
I was suffering from chronic sleep apnoea and cellulitis, was heavily dependent on Tramadol for pain relief and not coping with life in general.
As my weight declined I all of these reduced or went away - including the reliance on pain killers.
I'm 34 years old, single and for most of my life I've been overweight. I had tried various diets, you name it - I've tried it!
I have lost 22kgs, feel great, have more confidence in myself, have heaps of energy and most of all I am happy with myself for the first time in a long while.
This has changed my life. I wish I had known about this operation 10 years ago as it has been one of the greatest things ever to happen to me. I am a new person. It has ultimately changed my life for the better, both physically and mentally.
Within 5 months of having this procedure done I finally got to swim with my kids at Christmas, feeling enough growth in my self-confidence to wear my togs.
Weight loss surgery is only part of the equation.
Our support goes so much further.
Our Team are committed to providing world-class support from start to finish.
Through our comprehensive consultation we endeavour to find the best solution for you, tailored to your needs and wants.
Effortless Inquiry
09 200 4849
Unit 14/326 Sunset Road
Windsor Park
Auckland 0632
Monday - Friday:
8 am - 4:30 pm
Saturday - Closed
Sunday - Closed
