TRAVELING FOR WEIGHT LOSS SURGERY

Today, an increasing number of people travel to undergo weight loss surgery. For some people this is a short trip. For example, when a person lives within a few hours of an especially good weight loss surgical center or lives within a few hours drive of their friends and relatives who can help them recover from surgery, then this makes a great deal of sense.

A few people also travel great distances to undergo weight loss surgery, the reasons vary, but include the desire to stick with a particular surgeon or program, to be near friends and family, or in a few cases, to try to reduce the overall cost.

Some people even travel outside their home country. For example, discount programs in Mexico continue to advertise widely in the United States and on the internet, attracting a few people who hope to save several thousand dollars by having their surgery in Mexico. I cover this topic in more detail in my book Outpatient Weight Loss Surgery: Sasse Guide.

Should a person travel to undergo weight loss surgery?
Are there advantages, or disadvantages?

From my perspective as a medical director at a large established weight loss surgical program and center of excellence, I think there are both advantages and disadvantages to traveling to undergo your weight loss surgery. Let's talk about a few of those.

In the first example, somebody who travels a few hours to be closer to friend, loved ones or a particular surgeon or program with which they are familiar, it is probably the most common.

For example, in our neck of the woods, we see quite a few people who travel from surrounding communities such as Sacramento, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, Incline Village, Boise, all across Nevada, Northern California, or the San Francisco Bay area to come to our center. In most of their home locations there are in fact qualified weight loss surgeons and centers, but for reasons of familiarity or personal recommendations or additional personal considerations, these patients would prefer that our center provide their care. For the vast majority of these types of situations, in which a person travels a few hours to the center and surgeon, there are very few disadvantages.

The advantages may be that by broadening the area one is willing to consider, it may bring into consideration surgeons and surgical programs which are of a very high quality or that have special characteristics for that particular patient. In some cases, in addition, the patient in one city or town has friends or family in the city where the large experienced program exists, so it makes sense to consider traveling there for surgery. In many cases, the patient can experience a perceived higher quality experience, or have surgery with a much more experienced surgeon or practice, and be closer to loved ones who can help with the convalescence and recovery.

But are there disadvantages? I think the main disadvantage comes from the potential for recurrent or ongoing complications or troubles that might arise. While these cases are rather few and far between, on occasion patients may experience some difficulty that requires several repeat visits to the office. If someone is traveling several hours for each visit, this could be a real nuisance.

Now lets consider a different situation, one in which the patient travels a long distance for weight loss surgery. Here the equation changes somewhat. Presumably the patient is traveling such a long distance because there is a high quality program and surgeon with a lot of experience that has been personally recommended to the patient. In this case, there may be some significant advantages; but there may be disadvantages too. For example, any complications or troubles that arise may have to be dealt with by phone or with a local surgeon or by making the long trip again. It makes follow up and assessment of potential problems a bit more challenging. These disadvantages may be outweighed by the fact that the surgeon has been high recommended, the program is familiar to you and you have friends and family who live in that area. So it is a choice you would have to wave.

What about traveling outside the country? As I discussed in my book on outpatient weight loss surgery, anyone considering traveling outside the United States should take time to really understand the implications of that decision and all of its pros and cons.

Initially it may seem there are advantages of financial savings. In this day and age, unfortunately, many health insurance plans do not pay for weight loss surgery or do not pay for it sufficiently or cover a wide enough range of candidates. The prices offered in advertising and online in these other countries might seem like an opportunity to save thousands of dollars. And there are qualified surgeons.

Yet a careful understanding of the situation exposes some serious risks with this kind of travel as well. There are numerous examples of people who have traveled outside the country for adjustable gastric banding surgery and had serious problems when they returned. When further corrective surgery was needed, no domestic insurance plan would cover the corrective surgery either. There is also a stinging financial burden. In other situations, U.S. surgeons and centers will often not be willing to care for patients who have traveled to Mexico for weight loss surgery without a hefty fee imposed, simply because of the liability exposure and the time, effort and expense involved in correcting problems and providing ongoing proper maintenance advice and care.

So in summary, traveling to undergo weight loss surgery has advantages and disadvantages for every person and it depends on every person's individual's situation whether or not it is the right thing to do. Traveling short distances or a few hours may bring advantages of being closer to friends and family and may bring the patient under the care of a highly regarded or highly experienced surgeon. These advantages may outweigh any advantages of inconvenience of the added travel. On the other hand, traveling long distances may create more inconveniences and expense, should any problems arise. Traveling out of the country poses serious risks for patients and the appeal of saving thousands of dollars in upfront costs fades immensely when far greater financial exposure results.