Thinking of gastric sleeve surgery

**Tammy** · 06-07-2010 12:05 PM

My sister and I have been thinking about getting the gastric sleeve procedure for quite sometime now. I think we have been blessed with genetics that are "good" with both our parents being on the slim sized. Both of us, however, have been battling the bulge since we were in our teens.

I'd just like to know what we should look out for when deciding on a doctor who would perform it on us.

**Racquel** · 06-07-2010 03:39 PM

Hi Tammy:

I am sure that you have read up on the literature and this site, so I would just want to reiterate that gastric sleeve surgery is relatively new and it is a permanent thing. That should be foremost of the things you should consider even before you have started on searching for your doctor.

But for weight loss, gastric sleeve surgery is great. With a typical patient losing up to half of their excess body fat in just 6 to 12 months.

As for your doctor, well, I took this into consideration when I was choosing one.

1. The doctor's reputation. Remember that gastric sleeve still carries some amount of risk to you, it being a type of surgery that removes up to 80% of your stomach. So you would need a good doctor working on you. The thing is, you should check out your potential doctors and do a search on them. The good thing with the Internet is that people are bound to post their experiences and opinions on their own surgery, so you would get a gist of how they were handled by their doctors. Aside from that, try to talk to the doctor's previous patients.

2. The hospital/medical facilities' reputation. There are a lot of centers that focus on gastric sleeve and other forms of bariatric surgery. Same with your doctor, you would find that these centres have some reviews online too. If not, try to ask around for testimonials.

**nextinline** · 06-08-2010 02:04 AM

Wow, thanks for that.

I would like to add though, that you should also consider the costs. The vertical sleeve gastrectomy procedure is not covered by most healthcare insurance companies, yet, so it might take a whole chunk of your budget.

There are alternatives though. Right now, there are gastric sleeve tourism packages available wherein you take a trip or vacation to another country to have gastric sleeve performed on you.

That said, you could easily save up to 75% of the costs if it were done here.

**Tammy** · 06-08-2010 02:58 AM

I've heard that Mexico and Germany offers this kind of tourism for vertical sleeve gastrectomy. From what I know the procedure typically costs around $10,000 in Mexico and much less than that in Germany at only around $6000!

**PinkofHealth** · 06-08-2010 05:16 AM

Whoa, those are really big savings. And these countries are also noted for being good at gastric sleeve surgery. I'd like to add Colombia to that list. Over there, you only spend around $7,000 to $7,500 for the procedure.

**Tammy** · 06-08-2010 05:31 AM

You do neglect that you have to take into consideration your travel costs too. I think out of these three countries, I would opt for Mexico. For one, it's really near the US and I have heard that they have a lot of qualified surgeons over there, many of them are trained right here. So overall, Mexico would be a good place to start looking if you're not going to have the procedure here.

**Racquel** · 06-08-2010 11:07 AM

To be sure, check out HealthGrades, which rates hospitals on various procedures. It can tell you how your potential hospital ranks among all other hospitals when it comes to complication rates and surgical outcomes related to gastric sleeve surgeries.

**James** · 06-16-2010 08:54 AM

My wife has a friend who went to Mexico for the procedure I will try to find out the name of the place but it was like a spa. They did the surgery and she stayed for like 10 days or so. Everything was all inclusive though the flight, room, surgery, and after care. I thought that was kind of neat.

**newtome** · 06-17-2010 08:08 PM

When do you think these procedures will be coming to the US? After looking at these costs, I'm not sure I can afford it. Do you know if your health insurance will cover any of it?

**headsntails** · 05-05-2011 01:36 PM

hi Newtome, the vertical sleeve is available in Mexico from $4,500 to $9000 depending on the doctor. If you are self-pay, I'm sure the cost is a factor to you just like me. There's a banner ad posted here in this site for Dr.Almanza who is doing a special price for $4500. I'm thinking about putting the deposit down.