Real patients · İzmir, Turkey · published with consent

Bariatric Surgery Before and After TurkeyEvery procedure, in one gallery

Every bariatric surgery before and after Turkey result below is grouped by the operation that produced it — sleeve, bypass, band, balloon or revision. These are our own patients, not stock photography and not images bought from a picture library.

5 proceduressleeve · bypass · band · balloon · revision

−33 to −70 kgthe range you will see on this page

5,000+bariatric operations by one surgeon

12 monthsaftercare behind every result shown

Ask what is realistic for you How to read these photos

Every weight loss surgery before and after Turkey result on this page belongs to a patient operated on here. Send your height, weight and age and you will get an honest answer about which procedure fits — including when the answer is that surgery is not the right step yet.

Op. Dr. Volkan Arayici at the bariatric clinic in Izmir, Turkey

Op. Dr. Volkan Arayıcı IFSO member · JCI and TEMOS accredited hospital · İzmir

How to read a before and after photo — including ours

Every clinic publishing bariatric surgery before and after Turkey photographs wants you to look at them, and almost none of them tell you how to judge one. Before you scroll through the galleries below, four things are worth knowing. They apply to our photos exactly as much as to anyone else's.

01 Look for the time gap, not the drama

A gastric sleeve before and after pair taken eight weeks apart and one taken three years apart look similar on a screen and mean entirely different things. Where we know the years, they are printed on the image. Where a clinic does not state the interval at all, assume the flattering interpretation is the wrong one.

02 Posture, lighting and clothing do a lot of the work

A "before" shot taken from below in poor light next to an "after" taken in daylight in fitted clothes exaggerates a real change into an unreal one. The most honest pairs are the ones taken from the same angle — you will find several of those below, and they are less dramatic for exactly that reason.

03 Starting weight decides the number

A patient starting at 170 kilos can lose 70; a patient starting at 105 cannot, no matter how well the operation goes. Comparing yourself to the largest number on this page is the fastest way to be disappointed by a perfectly good result.

04 A photo is one day, not a decade

Nothing here shows what someone weighs today. Weight can return after any bariatric procedure, and the people in these pictures are still living their lives. What a gallery can honestly prove is that the operation was performed and the weight came off — nothing beyond that.

What we do not publish

No bariatric surgery before and after Turkey image on this page has been slimmed, retouched or generated. We do not invent names, ages or starting weights to sit underneath a photo — if you see a first name and a precise weight on a clinic page and cannot verify either anywhere, treat the whole gallery with suspicion. Our patients' accounts are public and checkable on Trustpilot, where 160 reviews average 4.9.

Procedure 1 of 5

Before after gastric sleeve: results from İzmir

The sleeve is the operation most of our patients travel for, so before after gastric sleeve images make up the largest set here. Where the years are printed on the image, they are the years the two photographs were actually taken.

Before after gastric sleeve: British patient 70 kilos lighter between 2023 and 2026 — −70 kgThe largest loss on this page, over three years — 2023 on the left, 2026 on the right. A result only possible from a very high starting weight.

Gastric sleeve before and after Turkey: male patient 65 kilos lighter, 2025 to 2026 — −65 kgOne year apart, 2025 to 2026. The right-hand photograph was sent to us by the patient himself during aftercare.

Before after gastric sleeve in Izmir: female patient 66 kilos lighter — −66 kgOn the left at the clinic in İzmir on admission day, on the right at a later reunion.

Gastric sleeve Turkey before and after: female patient 64 kilos lighter — −64 kgBoth photographs taken standing, from a similar angle — which is why the change reads as smaller here than in a staged pair.

Before after gastric sleeve: patient 50 kilos lighter, photographed in a wedding dress — −50 kgSent to us for her wedding. This is the kind of picture patients send unprompted, months after the last appointment.

Before and after gastric sleeve in Turkey: female patient 48 kilos lighter — −48 kgTwo evening photographs. Lighting differs between them, which is worth allowing for when you compare.

Gastric sleeve before and after Turkey: patient 47 kilos lighter, same angle — −47 kgSame room, same standing position in both frames — the most directly comparable pair in this gallery.

Gastric sleeve before and after: Orçun from Germany, 60 kg lighter 2.5 years after surgery in İzmir — −60 kgOrçun, Germany – gastric sleeve 2023. Left before surgery, right 2.5 years later. Individual result – progress varies from patient to patient.

This is the largest single block of bariatric surgery before and after Turkey images we publish. How the operation itself works, who it suits and what the recovery involves is set out on the gastric sleeve Turkey page. If it is the skin question behind your search rather than the weight, that is answered separately under gastric sleeve before and after skin. Written accounts from the same patient group are collected under gastric sleeve Turkey experiences.

Procedure 2 of 5

Gastric bypass before and after

In a bariatric surgery before and after Turkey gallery the bypass is the operation people most often mistake for a sleeve. It generally produces more weight loss and acts more strongly on type 2 diabetes. In a photograph the two are indistinguishable — which is the point worth making before you scroll.

Gastric bypass before and after Turkey: male patient photographed outdoors and indoors — Male patientNo figure was recorded for this pair, so we do not print one. The clothing in the right-hand frame is several sizes smaller.

Bariatric surgery before and after Turkey: female patient 35 kilos lighter — −35 kgA more modest change, and a completely normal one. Most results sit closer to this than to the largest number on this page.

A gastric bypass before and after result is driven by the same three things as any other: starting weight, comorbidities and aftercare. Why a bypass suits some patients better than a sleeve — reflux, diabetes, a very high BMI — is explained in full on the gastric bypass Turkey page.

Procedure 3 of 5

Gastric band before and after Turkey

The band is the one procedure where a bariatric surgery before and after Turkey photograph almost always means something other than it appears. Almost every band patient who reaches us now comes for the same reason: the band is no longer working, or it is causing problems. So these are not photographs of band placement — they are photographs of people whose band was removed and converted.

Gastric band revision before and after: female patient with the surgeon in Izmir — Band revisionOn the right with Op. Dr. Volkan Arayıcı after conversion. The band itself was placed years earlier, elsewhere.

This is why a gastric band before and after Turkey gallery looks different from a sleeve one: the starting point is a failed device, not an untouched stomach. What a band conversion involves, why it is a harder operation than a first-time sleeve and what it costs is set out under gastric band revision in Turkey.

Procedure 4 of 5

Gastric balloon before and after

We publish fewer balloon pictures than sleeve pictures, and the honest reason is not modesty. A balloon is a temporary device, placed endoscopically and removed after six or twelve months. The weight loss is real but smaller, and holding it afterwards is entirely down to what changes in the meantime.

Why the balloon galleries you see elsewhere look too good. A gastric balloon before and after pair is often marketed using results that in fact belong to surgical patients. If you are comparing providers, ask directly whether a given photograph is a balloon patient or a sleeve patient — a clinic that cannot answer that about its own gallery is telling you something.

It is also the only procedure here that requires no incision and no hospital stay, which is exactly why some patients choose it and exactly why the results are more modest.

It is also the only entry in this bariatric surgery before and after Turkey gallery that involves no operation at all. Who the balloon genuinely suits — and who should be looking at surgery instead — is covered on the gastric balloon Turkey page.

Procedure 5 of 5

Revision surgery before and after

These are second operations — patients whose first procedure was performed somewhere else and did not hold, and they are the part of a bariatric surgery before and after Turkey gallery that clinics rarely show. It is the fastest-growing group we treat, and the results deserve to be shown separately rather than mixed in with first-time patients.

Revision bariatric surgery before and after Turkey: female patient 54 kilos lighter — −54 kgA second operation after weight returned following surgery elsewhere.

Re-sleeve revision before and after Turkey: male patient 52 kilos lighter — −52 kgBoth photographs taken on holiday, a year apart, and sent to us by the patient.

Bariatric revision surgery before and after: female patient 39 kilos lighter — −39 kgRevision results are typically smaller than first-time results, because the starting point is different.

When a second operation is the right answer, and when the honest answer is that it is not, is set out on the gastric revision surgery page. If weight has come back but you have not decided anything yet, start with weight gain after weight loss surgery.

When does the change in these photos actually happen?

The single question we are asked most about any bariatric surgery before and after Turkey photograph is which month it belongs to. Weight loss surgery before and after Turkey photographs never carry a date stamp, and weight loss after surgery is not linear, and knowing the shape of it in advance prevents a lot of unnecessary panic at month four.

Month 1–3 The fastest stretch The steepest drop of the whole process, driven partly by fluid and partly by a very small intake. Faces change before bodies do — which is why so many three-month photos are taken from the shoulders up.

Month 4–6 The first plateau Loss slows and often stops for a few weeks. This is normal, it is not the operation failing, and it is the point at which most people message us worried. Clothing sizes usually keep moving even when the scales do not.

Month 7–18 Where most of these photographs were taken The majority of the "after" images on this page sit in this window. By eighteen months most patients are close to the weight they will hold.

Year 2 onwards It settles — or it drifts A rise of five to ten per cent in the second and third year is common and not a failure. What decides the long run is bloods, supplements and honesty about eating — not the operation, which finished its work long before.

Weight loss surgery before and after Turkey: female patient 33 kilos lighter — **−33 kg.** A result from the lower half of the range, and a good example of why the biggest number on a gallery page is the wrong one to measure yourself against.

Bariatric surgery before and after Turkey: male patient before surgery and later at home — **Male patient, İzmir.** No figure was recorded, so none is printed. The left frame was taken in the clinic before the operation.

What a before and after photo will never show you

This is the part that belongs on every bariatric surgery before and after Turkey page and is almost never on one. Everything below is a real consequence of major weight loss, and none of it is visible in a picture.

Loose skin

After 40, 50 or 70 kilos, skin does not fully retract — particularly on the abdomen, upper arms and inner thighs, and particularly over the age of forty. Clothing hides it in almost every "after" photograph on the internet, ours included. What is realistic, and what a second operation can and cannot do about it, is on our page about body contouring after weight loss surgery.

Hair loss around month three

Temporary shedding is common in the first six months and frightens people who were not warned about it. It is a response to rapid weight loss rather than a sign that something has gone wrong, and it reverses. The detail is under hair loss after gastric sleeve surgery.

Eating, for the rest of your life

Small portions, slow meals, no drinking with food, and supplements that are not optional after a bypass. Nobody photographs this, and it is the actual daily reality behind every image above.

What happens to relationships

Mood swings, a changed relationship with your own body, and shifts in how people around you behave. It is a well-documented part of the course, not a sign of failure — see personality changes after gastric bypass.

And the thing nobody puts in a gallery at all

Some people regain weight. It happens after every bariatric procedure, at every clinic, including ours. It is treatable and it is not a moral failure — but a gallery that shows only the best fortnight of a hundred patients' lives is not telling you the whole truth, and neither is any clinic that pretends otherwise. If a provider's gallery has no downside anywhere on the page, that is the finding, not the photographs.

Whose photographs these are, and how you can check

Every bariatric surgery before and after Turkey image on this page is a patient of Op. Dr. Volkan Arayıcı, operated on at the same hospital in İzmir, who gave permission for publication. Most carry our contact details across the bottom because the patients sent them to us that way, through the aftercare group.

We publish no names, no ages and no starting weights. That is deliberate. A first name with a precise weight underneath it looks more convincing and is impossible for you to verify — which is exactly why it is the standard format on pages that invent them.

What you can verify is what the same patients wrote in public. Our profile carries 160 reviews at an average of 4.9 on Trustpilot, with dates and named accounts you can read without going through us.

Bariatric surgery before and after Turkey: patient photographed before surgery and with the surgeon later — Left: at the clinic before surgery. Right: with Op. Dr. Volkan Arayıcı at a later visit.

SurgeonOp. Dr. Volkan ArayıcıIFSO member. More than 5,000 bariatric operations, every one performed personally.

HospitalÖzel Medifema, İzmirJCI- and TEMOS-accredited, with its own intensive care unit in the building.

After surgeryFour nights in hospitalNo hotel transfer. Twelve months of aftercare by video call and WhatsApp follows.

Before and after photos: frequently asked questions

How much weight will I lose in the first three months?

The first three months are the steepest part of the curve for every procedure, but the figure depends almost entirely on starting weight. Someone beginning at 170 kilos loses far more in that window than someone beginning at 105, and both are normal courses. We give a range in your assessment rather than a number, because a number would be a guess dressed up as a promise.

What happens two years after a gastric sleeve?

By two years most patients have reached and settled at their new weight. A rise of five to ten per cent between year two and year three is common and is not the operation failing. What predicts the long term is not the procedure but whether bloods, supplements and eating habits are still being taken seriously — which is why aftercare runs for twelve months rather than twelve weeks.

What is the regret rate for bariatric surgery?

Published regret rates for sleeve and bypass are low, but they are not zero, and the reasons people give are consistent: loose skin, reflux after a sleeve, and having been under-prepared for how much daily eating changes. Every one of those is discussed with us before a date is agreed. A clinic that has never mentioned a downside to you has not prepared you.

Can I see photos from patients with a similar starting weight to mine?

Yes. Send your height and weight on WhatsApp and we will show you bariatric surgery before and after Turkey courses from patients who started in a comparable range, rather than the most dramatic pictures we have. That comparison is far more useful than any public gallery, this one included.

Are these photos of gastric sleeve or gastric bypass patients?

Each bariatric surgery before and after Turkey gallery on this page is labelled by procedure — sleeve, bypass, band revision, balloon or revision surgery. In a photograph the procedures are indistinguishable, which is exactly why so many clinic galleries mix them without saying so. Ask any provider directly which operation a given image belongs to.

Do you edit or retouch the images?

No. Nothing on this page has been slimmed, reshaped or generated. Where we do not know the exact weight loss for a pair, we print no figure rather than estimate one. Where we know the years the photographs were taken, they appear on the image.

Why do so many of the patients look like they lost more than 50 kilos?

Because those are the pictures patients send us, and a bariatric surgery before and after Turkey gallery can only show what it is given. People who lose 33 kilos and are perfectly happy rarely photograph themselves for the clinic; people who lose 65 do. That is a selection effect in every gallery on the internet, and it is worth holding in mind while you scroll this one.

How soon after surgery can I be photographed like this?

Most of the "after" frames in this bariatric surgery before and after Turkey gallery were taken between seven and eighteen months. Before that the change is real but incomplete, and photographs taken at three months tend to mislead in both directions — some people look transformed, others barely different, and neither predicts the final result.

Want to know what is realistic for your starting weight?

Every bariatric surgery before and after Turkey result on this page began with a message like the one you are about to send. Send your height, weight, age and any existing conditions and you will get an assessment from the surgeon himself — which procedure fits, what the range of outcomes looks like for someone your size, and when the honest answer is that surgery is not the right step yet.

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