FAQ

Our patients spend 3 to 6 nights in the clinic after the surgery. We discharge our patients from the clinic only after making sure that the post-operative tests are within the normal range.

We recommend our patients to spend at least 5 nights in Cyprus after the surgery. Usually the patients stay in Cyprus for 10 days in total. You should arrive to Cyprus 2 days before the surgery to have your consultation with the surgeon and anaesthesiologist. The rest of the time should be spent in the hotel.

You do not need to bring any specific food or supplements with you. While in the clinic, you will be given food according to post-surgery dietary recommendations. After you leave the clinic the food may be bought in any supermarket.

Approximately 50% of our patients choose coming alone. They do not experience any trouble as we provide them with personal assistance throughout their stay. Moreover, the patient is given the contact details that he/she may use if they have any questions or need any information.

Patients, who take medication, that was approved by our anaesthesiologist, should bring the medication with them, so it can be taken as prescribed. Moreover, you may want to bring a computer, a book, or a magazine, to keep you entertained while in the clinic or in the hotel.

Your accompanying person may stay in the clinic overnight.

All staff in our clinic speaks English. Moreover, Dr Varol speaks fluent English.

A patient is suitable for bariatric surgery when: for female patients when BMI is higher than 35 + a co-morbidity; for male patients when BMI is higher than 34; BMI is higher than 30 and a patient has diabetes mellitus. If your BMI is lower than indicated, but you recently lost weight, let us know. Your previous weight will be considered when approving you for weight loss surgery.

If your BMI is too low for bariatric surgery, yet, you feel that your weight is bothering you. If already tried various weight loss methods and diets, but it does not work, we offer bariatric surgery alternative - gastric balloon. Gastric balloon is a non-surgical procedure during which a silicone sack is placed in the stomach making a patient feel full after eating a small portion of food.

There is no such thing as too high BMI when it comes to weight loss surgery. The main goal of the surgery is helping a patient to reach healthy weight. However, you should know, that if your BMI is high (BMI>50) the surgeon will ask you to lose more weight while preparing for the surgery then he asks of those patients who have lower BMI.

Most of our patients choose protein shakes' diet, as it is proven to give fast and effective result, which is needed before the surgery.

When the surgeon approves you for the surgery, he will write you a letter asking you to lose certain amount of weight and telling you why it is important. High amount of fat in the abdominal cavity and liver may make your surgery much more difficult, prolong the surgery and raise the surgery risk. In some cases, the surgery may not even be performed if the patient does not lose weight before the surgery. Therefore, responsible preparation for the surgery is one of the factors leading to surgery success.

During gastroscopy the doctor checks your stomach for diaphragmatic esophageal hernia which may result to reflux after the surgery. If the hernia is found, it is fixed during the gastric sleeve surgery.

We encourage consulting your personal physician before you leave for treatment. Most doctors know the main concept of medical travel so their advice and critical sum up of your personal case will surely make the situation clearer.

Our clinic is flexible date-wise and can usually arrange your surgery on the date convenient for you.

The surgeon that will be performing your surgery may write an official recommendation about the post-surgery period to your GP. Your GP then will provide you with an official sick note.

2 to 4 weeks of recovery time is needed after gastric bypass. It is recommended to avoid any active physical exercises for 2 months after the surgery. If your job is sedentary, you may go back to work 1 week after the surgery. Please note, recovery period is very individual and may vary depending on each case.

It is recommended to avoid any active physical exercises for 1 months after weight loss surgery. You may start performing easy (less active) physical exercises few weeks after the surgery, depending on how you feel.

We provide our patients with follow-up for 5 years after the surgery. It guarantees that all your questions regarding your new diet, nutrition supplements, any unusual sensations, etc. is answered by our professionals. Moreover, according to the official extract from the medical records about your surgery, your GP will recommend you the health tests to undergo. We ask our patients to provide us with the test results, so the surgeon can review it and give his comments and recommendations.

All the necessary information about the post-surgery diet will be given to you during your consultation with dietician. The dietician will give you the printed booklet as well.

You do not need to come back to Cyprus after the surgery. However, some of our patients choose to come for a personal follow-up consultation with our specialists.

You may start planning plastic surgery when your weight is stable for at least a year. During one year after weight loss the patient's blood levels return to normal and any further surgeries may be planned.

Nausea causes could be the following: patient eats too quickly, a mouthful of food should be chewed very well. Meals should be always longer than 10 minutes, and a small amount of food must be eaten, max 150 g or ml. It is important not to miss meals. A patient needs to choose meals properly, one needs to choose more protein rich food (meat, fish, dairy products). Patient has to drink about 1.5 liters of water per day, but has to stop drinking 20 minutes before a meal, eat, then wait 20 minutes and start drinking again. Most of the times nausea are caused by irregular eating and wrong food choice.

Two - three weeks after surgery it is recommended that one mashes vitamin pills or other medication and drinks them mashed. You may even mash your vitamin tablet and blend it in your food. Patient can also buy vitamin lozenges.

Weight loss is a very individual process, many studies suggest that after WLS patient loses 60% of excess weight within the first two years. It is important to follow the basic principles: drink 6 glasses a day, eat 3 main meals with protein and one or two snacks during the day - for example, juice or fruit.

Alcoholic drinks are not recommended for 6 months after the surgery. Patients who try to drink wine sometimes feel the pressure and gnawing in stomach area. If you still decide that you will drink some alcohol, you have to first dilute it with water and take tiny little sips.

After 6 months after the surgery, we recommend that you take a complete blood count, calcium, vit. D, and iron levels in blood. It is necessary to perform such tests once a year. According to the tests' results your general practitioner should adjust iron and calcium with vit. D use.

The amount of calories should not exceed 1200 kcal per day, but if you eat four times a day and each meal is not bigger than 150-200 ml or g, the amount of calories will be even lower.

Yes, of course. Although at some point your new diet habits might look like starving, it is a part of treatment. Before and after a surgery you will have dietician consultation during which you will be introduced with new diet program. Dietician will explain what foods you should eat in order to avoid vitamin deficiency, how to consume right amount of protein and other nutrition. Be sure to follow it closely, so you will stay healthy or become healthier.

Patient must eat low fat food, but even skinny food contains some fat. Dairy products (milk, kefir, yogurt) should be low fat, but patient can choose cheese that contains more fat. Patient can only eat lean meat and also can choose salmon though it is oily, but has many good fats that are essential for your body. However, it all depends on how patient feels after meals. Weakness, sweating more than usual, etc. are the signs that patient has chosen wrong food.