New Dimensions Weight Loss Surgery Among First to Offer REALIZE™ Personalized Banding Solution

Interactive Tool Plays Key Role in Helping Patients Reach Health & Weight Loss Goals After Surgery

SAN ANTONIO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--New Dimensions Weight Loss Surgery is the first bariatric program in central and south Texas to offer the new REALIZE™ Personalized Banding Solution, which is comprised of two important tools — the REALIZE Adjustable Gastric Band surgery and the REALIZE mySUCCESS™ patient support system (www.realizeband.com). The band helps control a patient’s hunger while the interactive, online system will help guide, motivate and support patients through their journey to long-term weight loss and a healthier life.

The REALIZE Adjustable Gastric Band is a new device that is surgically implanted around the stomach to help people with morbid obesity lose weight and improve or resolve obesity-related health conditions including type 2 diabetes, sleep apnea and high cholesterol. REALIZE mySUCCESS is a dynamic online program that provides support to help patients successfully achieve long-term weight loss with the REALIZE band. Through REALIZE mySUCCESS, patients and their doctors can set goals and continuously watch the progress being made — especially for the first three years, as patients adjust to new lifestyles and so their doctors can step in precisely when needed to keep them on track.

The REALIZE mySUCCESS online program offers a tailored progress plan to develop new health habits in the areas of physical activity, nutrition, and emotional well-being. The application provides a vital link to the patient’s health care team between visits, enabling their bariatric program to track their progress, and gather information to help to determine the patient’s correct band fill level. Patients can utilize the site to develop fitness plans and track their exercise, review recipes and keep a detailed food journal, communicate with other patients and track weight loss progress, and much more.

“While the surgery is among the most effective treatments for morbid obesity, it is just one stop along the patient’s journey. Patients must make changes to their diet and lifestyle after surgery to achieve long-term success. The combination of the REALIZE band and its innovative online patient support program marks a new approach in bariatric surgery,” said Mickey Seger, MD, president of New Dimensions Weight Loss Surgery.

Dr. Seger and two of his partners, Dr. John Pilcher and Dr. Lloyd Stegemann, were selected as national proctors by Ethicon Endo-Surgery to teach other bariatric surgeons how to use the REALIZE band, which was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday, September 28, 2007.

About New Dimensions Weight Loss Surgery

New Dimensions Weight Loss Surgery is the San Antonio-based surgical group of Dr. John Pilcher, Dr. Dana Reiss, Dr. Terive Duperier, Dr. Lloyd Stegemann, and Dr. Michael Seger. The group, which is a designated Center of Excellence, has performed more than 4,000 bariatric surgery procedures in San Antonio. For more information, log on to www.newdimensionswls.com.

About Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc.

Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc., an operating company of Johnson & Johnson, is a global leader in minimally invasive and traditional surgical devices for bariatric surgery and many other areas of surgery. The company develops and markets advanced medical devices for minimally invasive and open surgical procedures. The company focuses on procedure-enabling devices for the interventional diagnosis and treatment of conditions in general and bariatric surgery, as well as gastrointestinal health, plastic surgery, orthopedics, gynecology and surgical oncology. For more information about the REALIZE™ Band, visit www.realizeband.com.