Most UK patients land in Istanbul or Antalya because that is where the agencies advertise. The ones who come to İzmir usually did more research.
Here you deal with one person: the surgeon who assesses you, operates on you, sees you on the ward every morning and answers your WhatsApp for the next twelve months.
The city does not make the operation safer. The model does, and the model is different here.
| Typical agency package (Istanbul / Antalya) | Op. Dr. Arayıcı, İzmir | |
|---|---|---|
| Who you talk to | A patient coordinator who sells several clinics | The surgeon, on WhatsApp, himself |
| Who operates | Whichever surgeon has a slot that week | The same surgeon you have been messaging |
| Where you recover | Hotel from the day after surgery | Four nights in a JCI- and TEMOS-accredited hospital |
| Companion | Extra hotel room | In your twin hospital room, meals included |
| Flight from the UK | Direct, 3.5–4 h | Direct in season, about 4 h; via Istanbul in winter |
| Aftercare | A group chat run by the agency | Twelve months with the operating surgeon |
| Deposit | Usually required | None |
Op. Dr. Volkan Arayıcı qualified in general surgery in 2006 and has worked exclusively in bariatric and metabolic surgery since 2014. He is a member of IFSO, has performed more than 5,000 bariatric operations and holds the Turkish Ministry of Health's licence for bariatric surgery and its international health tourism authorisation.
His practice is in Güzelbahçe, on the İzmir coast. Operations take place in a JCI- and TEMOS-accredited hospital in İzmir with an intensive-care unit on site; that is where you spend your four nights.
Everything about him that does not fit on this page, including his publications and the longer patient stories, is on his main site: gastric sleeve İzmir, Turkey.
Direct flights to İzmir Adnan Menderes from several UK airports, around four hours; otherwise a connection through Istanbul. You book the flight; we tell you which days work. Details on gastric sleeve Turkey including flights.
A driver with your name meets you and takes you and your companion straight to the hospital. Admission and bloods the same day, then rest.
Four nights in a twin room on a surgical ward with an intensive-care unit in the building. Interpreter with you throughout. The surgeon on the ward every morning.
Discharge on day five with an English summary for your GP and a written diet plan, transfer to the airport, and twelve months of follow-up from the moment you land.
İzmir Adnan Menderes airport has direct flights from several UK airports, mainly from spring to autumn, with a flight time of around four hours. Outside the season you connect via Istanbul. We meet you at arrivals and the transfer to the hospital is included.
Safety depends on the clinic, not the city. What İzmir changes is the model: you are treated by a named surgeon who operates himself and answers his own messages, rather than by an agency that books an operating slot in whichever Istanbul hospital has one free that week.
Not on this trip. You arrive, you are operated on the next day, you spend four nights in hospital and you fly home on day five. A beach holiday after major surgery is not something we would recommend, and we do not sell packages that pretend it is.
In the hospital, four nights, in a twin room with your companion. There is no hotel in the package and no hotel transfer after surgery.
Enough for a city of four million with a university medical scene, and it does not matter for your trip: an English-speaking interpreter is included and with you in every consultation and on the ward.
Height, weight, age and your conditions. The surgeon replies himself, usually the same day, with an honest answer and your five-day plan.
No coordinator, no agency: the person who replies is the person who operates.
WhatsApp is the quickest route. You write to the surgeon himself, not a call centre or an agency.
Message on WhatsApp +90 532 466 67 67