How to choose a gastric sleeve surgeon you’ll love

You need to get along.

This is going to be a long-term relationship, and while you don’t need to get as in depth as you would with a potential spouse, you’ve got to make sure you trust your surgeon and feel comfortable with them. Ask lots of questions – how do they respond? Do they take time to explain things to you or are you in and out of the door in a minute? While it may be hard to put your finger on, if you get a bad ‘vibe’ then trust your gut and go elsewhere.

You don’t feel like just another number.

The staff are friendly and the surgeon takes time to answer your questions, as well as gets back to you when you need them.

They don’t tell you it will be easy.

It won’t. They shouldn’t. If they do, they’re lying and they might not be honest about other things. They should talk openly about the risks of the surgery, what life will be like afterwards, realistic expectations in terms of weight loss and the lifestyle changes you will need to make.

They have a comprehensive service.

Their service should come complete with dietitian, psychologist and a nurse or GP. Ideally they’ll provide a certain number of visits with these key members of the team as part of your surgery fee. In our clinic for example, you get five visits with the dietitian (me!) included as part of your fee, and you have immediate access to psychology should you need it.

They insist on long term follow-up.

The last thing you want if you’re serious about making the sleeve work for you, is to be operated on and left to drift off into the ether. Patients who regularly touch base with their dietitian and surgeon do much better keeping their weight off in the long term. To give you an idea, we insist our patients see us at 2, 4 and 8 weeks after surgery, then at 6 months, 12 months and yearly after that… at least (and most commonly much more regularly than that).

I’d love to hear what else you think is important in a surgeon. Please comment below!