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216-377-7257 [email protected]Lyndhurst
5035 Mayfield Rd, Suite 100Westlake
25200 Center Ridge Rd, Suite 1100Same-day surgery in an accredited ambulatory surgery center, a surgeon you meet at the beginning instead of the end, and every tool for obesity under one roof rather than one tool sold to everybody who walks in.
The Short Answer
Karas Weight Loss & Wellness is a physician-owned private practice in Cleveland where Dr. Linden Karas, a board-certified general surgeon fellowship-trained in bariatric surgery at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, performs every operation herself. Surgery is done at an accredited ambulatory surgery center in Lyndhurst rather than a hospital, which removes the facility fee and lets qualified patients go home the same evening.
Patients meet Dr. Karas early rather than the week before their operation, and the practice offers the full range of options for obesity: sleeve gastrectomy, gastric bypass, revisional surgery, incisionless endoscopic procedures, the Allurion balloon program, magnetic Mag-DI, and a physician-led medical weight loss program built on body composition and metabolic testing.
Same-day surgery
Dr. Karas reviewed every bariatric patient she had ever admitted overnight and found that at least half were healthy going in, had an operation that went exactly the way it should have, and were walking and drinking by that afternoon. Those patients did not need a hospital bed. They needed a ride home.
She is equally direct about who should stay. Three categories of bariatric patient are not sent home the same day, and she tells them that at the first visit.
Cost
Two patients can have the identical operation from the same surgeon weeks apart and pay thousands of dollars apart. Nothing about the surgery explains the gap. Hospitals carry facility fees that an ambulatory surgery center does not, and for patients paying out of pocket that difference runs to roughly half of typical hospital pricing. Patients who prefer to pay over time can use CareCredit or Cherry financing for the full quoted amount.
Nobody itemizes any of this while you are comparing options, which is why the practice publishes what it charges.
Surgeon first
The usual sequence is a nurse practitioner, then a dietitian, then a psychologist, then three or six months of visits, and only near the end the person who will operate on you. The question buried in that sequence is what happens if you sit down in that room and you do not like them.
People will spend six months choosing a plastic surgeon and about six minutes choosing the surgeon who permanently reroutes how their digestive tract works. Ask who is operating, ask how many they have done, and ask whether you will ever see them again.
Three More
The differences that show up after you book, in what gets tested, what gets asked, and what gets offered.
The six-month rule
No strong evidence says six months of mandatory appointments makes an operation safer or an outcome better, and no requirement like it appears in the surgical literature. Preparation still matters, and education does not have to be stretched across half a year. Patients paying cash at a surgery center are not bound by it at all.
Metabolic medicine
Screening for sleep apnea, checking the liver for fatty liver disease, following heart, cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar, and asking about mental health, which is usually the piece nobody has raised. GLP-1s are prescribed here constantly and never on their own.
The medical programEvery tool
Sleeve, bypass and revisions, plus endoscopic sleeve and TORe without incisions, the Allurion balloon swallowed as a capsule, and Mag-DI, which joins two segments of intestine with magnets instead of staples.
All surgical optionsSide By Side
| Karas Weight Loss & Wellness | Hospital bariatric program | Med spa or online GLP-1 service | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who operates | Dr. Karas performs every operation | Whichever surgeon the program assigns | No surgical care offered |
| When you meet the surgeon | A month or two in, before you commit | Often the last visit before surgery | Not applicable |
| Where surgery happens | Accredited ASC in Lyndhurst, with hospital options for higher-risk patients | Inpatient hospital operating room | Not applicable |
| Overnight stay | Home the same evening for qualified patients | Routine overnight admission | Not applicable |
| Pre-surgical waiting period | Education without the insurer-mandated six months for cash-pay patients | Three to six months of required visits | None, and no surgical evaluation either |
| What drives the price | No hospital facility fee, roughly half of typical hospital pricing | Hospital facility fees on top of surgical fees | Low headline price, often a short call and a prescription |
| What surrounds the medication | Nutrition, movement, hormones, sleep, mental health and coaching in one program | Varies by program, often referred out | Usually the prescription alone |
| Testing | Body composition and metabolic testing every three months | Varies | Rare |
In Her Words
“If eating less and moving more worked the way people say it does, there would be no such thing as a bariatric surgeon.”Dr. Linden Karas
Every patient who arrives here has already been told to eat less and move more, and it did not work. Nobody asked about the bone-on-bone arthritis in their knee, or the fact that they work nights, or the twenty years of attempts sitting behind them. The first conversation is about finding the specific thing standing in your way, and then matching a tool to it.
Common Questions
Yes, for appropriately selected patients. Bariatric surgery with same-day discharge has been performed in ambulatory surgery centers across the United States for years, and it expanded further during COVID when hospitals needed to keep patients out of inpatient beds. Selection is what makes it work, and Dr. Karas declines to send certain patients home the same day and tells them so at the first visit.
Hospitals charge a facility fee that an ambulatory surgery center does not carry. The surgeon, the instruments, the technique and the time in the room can be identical, and the bill still differs by thousands of dollars. For patients paying out of pocket, surgery at an ASC runs at roughly half of typical hospital pricing.
That requirement was written by insurance companies and does not appear in the surgical literature. Patients paying cash at a surgery center are not bound by it. Preparation still matters, and the practice provides the education, without stretching it across half a year to satisfy a payer rule.
Yes. A nurse practitioner or physician assistant may be your first contact, and you will see Dr. Karas a month or two into the process rather than the week before your operation. She performs every operation herself.
There are three categories of bariatric patient Dr. Karas will not send home on the day of surgery, based on medical history, the complexity of the operation and how the recovery goes. Those patients are cared for at UH Geauga Medical Center or Southwest General, where she holds surgical privileges, including laparoscopic and robotic options.
Coverage depends on the service and the plan. Some services, including physical assessments and mental health care, are billed to insurance, while much of the surgical and medical weight loss care is paid directly. Call the Lyndhurst or Westlake office at 216-377-7257 and the team will review your specific plan with you before you commit to anything.
Those services generally sell a prescription. This is a physician-led program that starts with body composition analysis and metabolic testing, screens for the conditions obesity causes, and pairs medication with nutrition, movement, hormone and sleep evaluation, mental health care and twice monthly coaching. When medication is not the right tool, surgical and endoscopic options are available from the same practice.
Surgeon consultations are typically available within one week of referral, including general surgery such as hernia repair and anti-reflux surgery, compared with the six to twelve week wait common inside the regional health systems. Offices are in Lyndhurst and Westlake.
Financing Available
Financing is available for bariatric surgery, the Allurion balloon, Mag-DI and the medical weight loss program. Apply online in minutes, get a decision fast, and pay in monthly installments instead of all at once. Checking your options does not affect your credit score.
See financing options
Promotional financing on purchases of $200 or more, including no interest if paid in full within the promotional period, plus longer plans with fixed monthly payments on larger amounts. Prequalify online with no effect on your credit score. Accepted at Karas Weight Loss and Wellness.
CareCredit financing details →
Monthly payment plans up to 60 months, with 0% APR for qualifying applicants. Apply in about a minute with a soft credit check that does not affect your score. High approval rates, including for patients who have been turned down for a card before.
Cherry payment plan details →Financing is subject to credit approval. Get your written quote at a consultation and the office will help you set up a monthly payment plan. Read the full financing details.
Begin Today
Same-day surgery, comprehensive medical weight loss, and concierge-level care without the wait or the hospital price tag.
Limited time
One visit with Dr. Karas covers the surgical options and the medical weight loss program with GLP-1 medication management, at the Lyndhurst or Westlake office, at no charge.
Or call 216.377.7257Free consultation
Free for new patients at both the Lyndhurst and Westlake offices.
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