In the News
Why I Left University Hospitals to Open Karas Weight Loss & Wellness
I’m Dr. Linden Karas, a bariatric surgeon in Cleveland, Ohio. On August 17, 2026, I opened the doors of Karas Weight Loss & Wellness, my own bariatric surgery and medical weight loss practice. I spent nine years building bariatric programs from the ground up inside hospital systems, most recently at University Hospitals, and I left UH because there were things I wanted to offer patients that I couldn’t offer inside a large health system.
I want to be direct about this, because I know patients search for their surgeon by name and want a straight answer: I am no longer working as a University Hospitals surgeon. I still hold privileges at UH Geauga and UH Geneva, along with Southwest General Medical Center in Middleburg Heights, but my practice is now fully independent. Karas Weight Loss & Wellness is where I see patients, and it is not affiliated with or operated by University Hospitals.
Why I left University Hospitals
I’m early enough in my career that I didn’t want to spend it doing only the two procedures a big health system rewards: laparoscopic and robotic gastric bypass and sleeve gastrectomy. Those are excellent surgeries. They’re the gold standard for a reason, being safe, effective, and durable. But they’re not right for everybody, and obesity treatment has moved fast over the last few years. I wanted to offer the full range of what’s actually available, not just the two options that fit a hospital’s operating model.
What I can offer now
A wider set of procedures
I brought MagDI to University Hospitals and performed the first two cases done there in July, right before I left, so this is not a procedure I picked up after opening my own practice. MagDI is a magnetic device that connects loops of intestine, and eventually the stomach to the intestine, without staples or sutures. It works as a primary procedure and as a way to help patients lose more weight after a sleeve gastrectomy. Very few surgeons in the Cleveland area offer it, and at Karas Weight Loss it sits on the standard menu rather than being the rare exception. The same goes for the swallowable intragastric balloon: no endoscopy to place it, no endoscopy to remove it. It deflates and passes on its own.
Now seeing new patients in Lyndhurst and Westlake
Dr. Karas is taking consultations for surgical weight loss, the Allurion balloon program and medical weight loss at both offices.
Same-day bariatric surgery
Same-day bariatric surgery in an ambulatory surgery center has been done safely for years and picked up real momentum during COVID. Big health systems generally don’t push it, because an overnight stay brings in more insurance revenue. I’ll be performing same-day surgeries at Legacy Surgery Center and at Big Creek Surgery Center in Middleburg Heights. For patients without bariatric surgery coverage, this means self-pay surgery at roughly half of what a hospital system charges. A lot of those patients were flying overseas for surgery, having procedures done somewhere they don’t speak the language, with no real follow-up plan. I’d rather they have a safe, well-supported option here in Northeast and North Central Ohio.
Self-pay pricing depends on the procedure and the surgery center. If you want the number for your case, ask when you book.
Real medical weight loss support, not a 15-minute refill visit
At UH, I was seeing medical weight loss patients and prescribing GLP-1 medications like Ozempic, Wegovy, Zepbound, and Mounjaro, along with newer oral options. But those visits were 15 minutes, mostly spent refilling prescriptions. I couldn’t get patients real nutrition education, because most insurance doesn’t cover it. I couldn’t order body composition testing, including DEXA scans, because UH doesn’t support ordering them for that purpose. So I’m building what I couldn’t build there: nutrition education, body composition, fibroscan and metabolic testing, and health coaching, all in my own office, at a reasonable cash-pay price.
That last piece matters more than people realize. A GLP-1 prescription isn’t a magic bullet for most patients. A lot of people stop the medication after a few months because the effects taper off, and nobody ever taught them what to eat or how to build the habits that make the medication work long term. If you’re getting these medications through an online service, you’re not getting that support. Karas Weight Loss & Wellness exists to fill that gap.
The bottom line
Karas Weight Loss & Wellness is the first practice of its kind in the greater Cleveland area: medical and surgical weight loss and wellness care under one roof, independent of a hospital system, offering same-day surgery, the newest procedures on the market, and the kind of comprehensive support that turns a prescription into a lasting result. I left University Hospitals to build this. If you’re looking for me, this is where I practice.
If you want to see what this looks like for people who have already gone through it, read our patient stories. If you are ready to talk through your own options, surgical or medical, schedule a consultation or call 216-377-7257.