Dr. Paul Chugay will be presenting a talk at the American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery (February 2018)

A California plastic surgeon is performing what may well be the most bizarre, and punishing, weight-loss procedure short of an outright limb amputation: tongue patches.

Since 2009, Dr. Nikolas Chugay has been suturing stamp-size patches of Marlex mesh to patients’ tongues.

The patch makes it painful to eat anything solid. The patient leaves it in place for a month or so — or less, if it becomes unbearable — while subsisting on an 800-calorie-a-day protein shake diet provided by Chugay.

The doctor and his son, Paul, also a doctor, say on their website that they have done this procedure more than 150 times. Patients typically lose around 20 pounds, and have flown in from around the country for the $2,000 procedure.

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