A new type of weight-loss surgery

Q: In your book "YOU: On a Diet," you mentioned how surgeons realized cutting the vagus nerve curbed a person's appetite. Why isn't vagotomy surgery an option for weight loss? — Maria, Waxahachie, Texas

A: It might be, but it's still experimental. In the 1970s, docs were snipping the vagus nerve in ulcer patients to cut down on gastric acid when they discovered an unexpected side effect: The patients lost weight. Back then, it was major abdominal surgery. Today, it can be done with a few tiny cuts that remove about 1 centimeter of the nerves between the esophagus and stomach with almost no short-term side effects.

Researchers are also investigating a reversible procedure called VBLOC, in which implanted electrodes deliver high-frequency, low-energy electrical impulses to block the signals the vagus carries between your brain and digestive system, particularly the ones that tell you it's time to nosh.

But are these as effective as gastric bypass or lap band surgeries? We may not know until the results from a major study on both techniques is released later this year. However, in a small 2008 study, 10 of 11 people who had a vagotomy lost an average of 18 percent of their weight.

Compared to the 30 percent to 70 percent weight loss often seen with other weight-reduction surgeries, that may not seem like much. But gastric bypass is major surgery, and reversible vagotomy is, at least in the short term, less likely to cause problems. It probably won't get anyone into a thong bikini, but it may be enough to improve your health and give you the momentum to keep on losing.

Q: I'm hard of hearing and have a steady noise in my ears: a "sh sh sh" that sounds like it's coming from a tunnel. I used to have it occasionally, but now it is a steady noise. Any suggestions besides just trying to ignore it? — Therese, Gatineau, Quebec

A: It's very likely that you have tinnitus; about 90 percent of people with hearing loss do. Although in Latin the word "tinnitus" means "ringing" — which is how most people describe the phantom noise in their ears that no one else can hear — it also can sound like hissing, buzzing, chirping, roaring or rushing (that sh-sh sound).

You may have had tinnitus for a long time before you noticed it; hearing loss may have just revealed it because you were no longer picking up the sounds in your environment that masked it.

Why did you get it in the first place? One theory is that exposure to loud noise (explosions, jack hammers, Black Sabbath cranked to the max on your iPod) damages tiny, delicate hairs that move in response to sound. It also may confuse the cells in your ear that communicate "sound" to your brain, and they can begin randomly firing off "listen to this" messages to your brain in the absence of any sound.

There aren't any cures for tinnitus, but there are many effective treatments. You should see an otolaryngologist (an ear, nose and throat

doctor), who will rule out other possible causes and may recommend hearing aids. Or choose a subspecialist who just cares for people with tinnitus, if you can find one (that's what we'd do). Sometimes, just improving your ability to hear can cover up the tinnitus.

The doc also might recommend a masking device. It essentially replaces tinnitus with a more pleasant sound, like rain or the ocean, that you can ignore as easily as you do any background noise. Once you learn to ignore the pleasant sound, you may learn to ignore your tinnitus as well.

A simple test can tell you if you're a good candidate for masking: Stand by a faucet running full force. If you can't hear your tinnitus, a masking device — no bigger than a hearing aid — may work for you.

The YOU Docs, Mehmet Oz and Mike Roizen, are authors of "YOU: The Owner's Manual." Want more? See "The Dr. Oz Show" on TV (check local listings). To submit questions, go to www.RealAge.com.