Bariatric Surgeon for Medina County Ohio

A County Built Around Its Square

Medina’s public square still looks close to how it did a century ago. The gazebo, the county courthouse, and the shops that circle them haven’t changed much, and the people who live within walking distance tend to know their neighbors and their doctors by name. Drive ten minutes in almost any direction and the county looks different. New subdivisions have filled in the farmland along Route 18 and around Sharon Center and Granger Township, bringing families who commute toward Cleveland or Akron and who chose Medina County for the schools or the lot sizes rather than for family history here.

Both kinds of Medina County residents end up in this practice, and usually for the same reason: they have decided that carrying extra weight is a medical problem worth solving with medical tools, not something to keep managing indefinitely on willpower alone. A patient who grew up two blocks from the square and a patient who closed on a new build off Foote Road last year ask Dr. Karas the same questions about sleeve gastrectomy, gastric bypass, and whether a GLP-1 medication makes more sense before surgery, after it, or instead of it.

The county’s own character, an old center that has held its shape while new growth spreads outward around it without much fuss, matches how this practice would rather work. No pressure to decide quickly. A clear look at the actual options, and enough time to choose the one that fits a patient’s health and their life, not a sales calendar.

Why Medina County Patients Choose Dr. Karas

Dr. Karas is a bariatric surgeon who performs sleeve gastrectomy, gastric bypass, and revision bariatric surgery for patients whose earlier weight loss surgery did not produce the results they expected. He also manages medical weight loss programs built around GLP-1 medications for patients who are not surgical candidates yet, or who never will be and do not need to be. Medina County patients often reach out after a family doctor in Medina, Wadsworth, or Brunswick raises the subject during a routine visit, and this office works directly with that referring physician rather than leaving a patient to manage the paperwork alone.

Distance matters here differently than it does in denser parts of Cuyahoga County. Medina County residents already treat a twenty- or thirty-minute drive as ordinary, the same way they treat a drive into Cleveland for work or across townships for groceries. The Westlake office puts most of the county within about 35 to 40 minutes, which patients weighing a decision that affects the rest of their health generally find manageable rather than burdensome.

Some patients arrive years after a first bariatric procedure done at a different hospital, looking for a surgeon who takes a revision seriously instead of suggesting they try harder with diet. Dr. Karas evaluates those cases individually, because a sleeve or bypass that worked well for a decade and then stalled is a different problem than one that never worked as intended.

Procedures for Patients at Every Stage

The practice offers a full range of options rather than steering every patient toward the same procedure. That range matters in a county where patients arrive from different starting points: some newly diagnosed with weight-related health problems, others who have carried the same twenty extra pounds since their kids left for college.

• Sleeve gastrectomy
• Gastric bypass
• Revision bariatric surgery
• Medical weight loss and GLP-1 medication management
• Endoscopic weight loss procedures

Dr. Karas discusses which of these fits a patient’s health history, prior attempts at weight loss, and personal preference before recommending one. That conversation happens the same way regardless of how a patient found the practice, through a referral from a Medina County physician or on their own.

Getting Here from Medina County

Kara’s Weight Loss & Wellness has two Ohio offices. For most Medina County residents, the Westlake office is the practical choice: it is roughly a 35 to 40 minute drive up Interstate 71, and it is where most surgical consultations for patients from Medina, Brunswick, Wadsworth, and the surrounding townships take place. The Lyndhurst office remains fully available to any Medina County patient who prefers it, for a second opinion, a visit scheduled around other plans in that direction, or simply because the timing works better.

Westlake office
25200 Center Ridge Rd, Suite 1100
Westlake, Ohio 44145

Lyndhurst office
5035 Mayfield Rd, Suite 100
Lyndhurst, Ohio 44124

Surgical procedures scheduled through the Westlake office take place at Big Creek Surgery Center or Southwest General, both in Middleburg Heights. Surgical procedures scheduled through the Lyndhurst office take place at Legacy Surgery Center in Lyndhurst. Call (216) 377-7257 to reach either office and ask which location fits your situation.

Frequently Asked Questions