No surgery · no general anaesthetic · İzmir, Turkey
Gastric Balloon TurkeyWhat it costs, what it does — and where it stops
A six-month gastric balloon costs £1,200 here, plus £250 to remove it — £1,450 from start to finish. In the UK the same treatment privately runs from around £4,000. What the full gastric balloon Turkey price covers, what you can realistically expect to lose, and when a balloon is the wrong answer are all on this page.
Send your height, weight and age. You will get an honest answer — including when a balloon will not get you where you want to be and surgery would.
What a gastric balloon is — and what it is not
A gastric balloon Turkey treatment is the same procedure you would have in Manchester or London: a soft silicone balloon placed endoscopically into the stomach and filled with fluid or air. It takes up space, so you feel full on far less food.
No incision, no stitches, nothing removed. The gastric balloon procedure takes 20 to 30 minutes under light sedation — not a general anaesthetic. You go back to your hotel the same day.
Now the part most clinics leave out: a balloon is a temporary device. It comes out after six months. What happens afterwards is decided not by the balloon but by what changed in your habits while it was in.
How much weight can you lose with a gastric balloon?
The honest answer first: considerably less than with surgery. Anyone quoting you sleeve-level figures for a balloon is selling you the wrong procedure.
Where most of our balloon patients land, depending on starting weight and how the six months are used.
At the top end, usually from a high starting weight and with real dietary change. The photographs below sit here — they are the exception, not the rule.
Without changed habits the weight returns after removal. The balloon buys you time; it does not buy you a new way of eating.
For comparison: after a gastric sleeve Turkey patients typically lose 60 to 70 per cent of their excess weight. The balloon sits well below that — not a weakness, but the price of removing nothing and changing nothing permanently.
Six months or twelve — and what about the swallowable one?
For a gastric balloon Turkey we work with the 6-month balloon as standard. The reason is rarely stated this plainly: after about six months the effect fades anyway. The stomach adapts, the fullness signal weakens — the balloon is still in place but barely working.
| 6 months — our recommendation | 12 months | |
|---|---|---|
| Balloon | £1,200 | £2,100 |
| Removal | £250 | £250 |
| Total | £1,450 | £2,350 |
| Placement | Endoscopic, light sedation, 20–30 min | Endoscopic, light sedation |
| Working window | Covers exactly the period in which a balloon actually works | Longer in place — the additional benefit is limited |
| Suits | Most patients | If you deliberately want more time and accept the difference in price |
The Allurion question — and our answer
If you have been researching in the UK you will have met the swallowable balloon everywhere: Allurion, sometimes still sold as Ellipse. Every large private group promotes it, because it needs no endoscopy — you swallow a capsule and it passes naturally later. That sounds easier, and it is.
We still do not recommend it. It costs considerably more than the 6-month balloon and, in our experience, does not deliver the weight loss patients expect from it. We would rather place a balloon that works and charge you less than place one that markets well. If you specifically want the swallowable version we will discuss it — but we will tell you first why we think something else serves you better.
Six or twelve months — which fits you?
Starting weight and how much time you want to give yourself decide it. Send me your details and I will tell you which gastric balloon in Turkey makes sense in your case — and when none does.
Ask about the gastric balloon procedure Free · usually answered the same day · no depositGastric balloon Turkey before and after
Three gastric balloon Turkey courses from patients who consented to publication. We deliberately show no extreme figures: −30 to −35 kg is the top end of what a balloon can do, and most patients land below it.
Before and after photographs from every procedure — sleeve, bypass, band and revision — are collected in our before and after gallery, along with how to judge whether a transformation photo is honest.
Gastric balloon cost Turkey — the complete figure, not the headline one
Google's own summary puts private UK prices at £4,000 to £8,000, against a gastric balloon Turkey price a fraction of that. Our gastric balloon Turkey price is £1,450 including removal. That is not a rounding difference — it is a different order of magnitude, and it is worth understanding why before you decide.
| Item | With us in İzmir | UK, privately |
|---|---|---|
| 6-month balloon | £1,200 | from around £4,000 |
| 12-month balloon | £2,100 | commonly £5,000–£8,000 |
| Removing your balloon | £250 | varies by clinic |
| Removing someone else's balloon | £400 | often not offered at all |
| NHS | not applicable | very rarely funded |
| Payment | On the day. No deposit, no instalments | Finance plans common |
Where balloon price comparisons usually fall apart
A balloon is put in and taken out again. Many providers quote only the placement. With us the 6-month balloon is £1,200 and removal is £250 — £1,450 together, and that is the number to plan with. We put it here so it is not a surprise later. Ask every other provider the same question.
Had your balloon fitted somewhere else and need it removed?
We do that too, even when the balloon is not ours. Removing another provider's balloon costs £400. Bring the balloon type and fitting date if you have them; if you do not, we establish it at gastroscopy.
UK figures are the ranges British providers and Google's own summary publish; they are not our quotes and they change. Flights are not included — the package begins when you land in İzmir.
Can you get a gastric balloon on the NHS?
Short answer: almost never. The gastric balloon is not routinely funded and is treated as a private procedure across most of the UK.
The reasoning is structural rather than arbitrary. Commissioners assess the balloon as a temporary measure without a lasting effect, so it sits outside the funded pathway. Surgical procedures — sleeve or bypass — can be funded, but only through a documented route: tier 3 weight management first, dietetic and psychological assessment, then referral and a panel decision. Waits of eighteen months to several years are common and criteria vary by ICB.
What this means in practice: if you want a balloon, you are almost certainly paying for it — from around £4,000 in the UK, £1,450 with us including removal. Only your own ICB can tell you what applies in your area; ask them in writing before you plan anything.
We issue a full invoice and a medical report in English for every treatment. Whether your insurer reimburses anything against it is entirely their decision — we promise nothing on that front.
Gastric balloon in Turkey all-inclusive: what is in, and what is not
"Gastric balloon Turkey all-inclusive" is a phrase every provider fills differently. So here are both halves: the services and the gaps.
- Collection at İzmir airport and all local transfers — the gastric balloon Izmir package starts on landing
- Pre-procedure assessment: bloods and consultation
- Gastroscopy and placement of the balloon
- The balloon itself — original product, not a copy
- Medication for the first days against nausea and cramping
- Hotel nights for the stay
- Dietary plan and 12 months of follow-up by video call and WhatsApp, in English — part of the gastric balloon in Turkey all-inclusive package, not an add-on
- Your flight. You book it yourself; it is almost always cheaper and keeps your dates in your hands
- Removal — £250. It falls due after six months but belongs to the total, so it is listed here
- Supplements after the treatment
- Extended hotel stays or companion arrangements beyond the standard
Why this says hotel and not hospital
For our operations, patients stay in hospital until discharge. For a balloon that is not medically necessary: there is no incision, no general anaesthetic and no wound. You go to the hotel the same day and are looked after from there. Anyone selling you a multi-day hospital stay for a balloon is selling you something you do not need.
The gastric balloon procedure in İzmir, step by step
Plan two to three days in total. The procedure itself is the shortest part of that.
- 1Arrival and collection. We meet you at İzmir airport and transfer you to the hotel.
- 2Assessment. Bloods and a consultation: existing conditions, medication, expectations.
- 3Gastroscopy. We look at the stomach first. If there is a significant hiatus hernia or marked inflammation, the balloon is not placed — we talk about alternatives instead.
- 4Placement. 20 to 30 minutes under light sedation, performed by Op. Dr. Volkan Arayıcı himself.
- 5Observation, then hotel. One to two hours of monitoring, then back to your room.
- 6The first three days. Abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting are normal and expected in this window. You get medication for it and we are reachable throughout. From day four the symptoms ease markedly.
- 7Flight home and follow-up. Dietary plan, then 12 months of support by video call and WhatsApp.
How risky is a gastric balloon — and what are the downsides?
This question appears in almost every UK search about a gastric balloon Turkey and on almost none of the provider pages. Here are the answers, including the uncomfortable ones.
Abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting are the rule in the first three days, not the exception. After that the symptoms ease markedly. You get medication from the start — but we do not soften those three days.
A small number describe the symptoms as unbearable and ask to have the balloon removed early. That is possible and we do it — but it means the treatment ends without the result you came for. We say this beforehand so you can factor it into your decision.
After around six months the stomach adapts and the fullness signal weakens. That is precisely why we consider six months the sensible duration rather than twelve.
A balloon can worsen existing heartburn. With marked reflux we do not place one — it is the wrong procedure in that case.
After removal your stomach is as it was. Without changed habits the weight returns. That is not a complication — it is how the device works.
Very rarely a balloon can deflate or migrate. A warning sign with fluid-filled balloons is blue-green discoloured urine — report it immediately. This is one reason we stay reachable for twelve months.
What you cannot do with a gastric balloon
Do not force large portions, do not drink with meals, avoid fizzy drinks in the first weeks, and do not plan a pregnancy while the balloon is in place. Anti-inflammatory painkillers such as ibuprofen only after checking with us — they irritate the stomach lining further.
Who the balloon suits — and who it is not enough for
This is the section that occasionally costs us a patient. It belongs here anyway.
- Your BMI is roughly between 27 and 35
- You want to lose 15 to 30 kilos, not 60
- You specifically want to avoid an operation
- You need to lose weight before another procedure
- You need a push to start a change at all
- Your BMI is over 40 — it is a drop in the ocean
- You have type 2 diabetes: a balloon does not act on the gut hormones, a bypass does
- You have marked reflux or a significant hiatus hernia
- You have had a balloon before and the weight came back
- You want a permanent solution — a balloon is by definition not one
If one of the right-hand points applies to you, I will say so at the first consultation — even when you write asking for a balloon. Then we talk about a gastric sleeve in Izmir or, with diabetes and reflux, a gastric bypass Turkey. What speaks against an operation is written out openly under disadvantages of weight loss surgery.
Will a balloon actually get you there?
Send your height, weight, age and any existing conditions. I will tell you honestly whether a gastric balloon in Turkey reaches your goal — or whether a different procedure serves you better.
Get an honest assessment on WhatsApp Answered by the surgeon · no deposit · no sales callRemoving a balloon and doing a sleeve in the same session — and what I see when I do
Yes, we do this regularly. It is one of the more common routes by which gastric balloon Turkey patients reach us: the balloon has been in for months, some of the weight is back, and the decision for something permanent has been made. Both can be done in one session — one anaesthetic, one trip.
What I see in these patients
When I remove the balloon and operate immediately afterwards, I see the stomach from the inside — and in these patients it is, as a rule, stretched. The balloon takes up space, but over the months the stomach gives way and dilates around it.
That is an observation from my own procedures, not a textbook line. But it explains well what patients report afterwards: they feel hungry again sooner than they expected. The likelihood of regaining weight after a balloon is high — which is exactly what UK searchers are asking when they type "do people keep weight off after a gastric balloon".
Used as the starting point of a real change it can do exactly that. Treated as the solution, the disappointment is built in.
Removal and sleeve in the same session means one anaesthetic, one stay, one recovery. From that point the rules of surgery apply — four nights in hospital, not in a hotel.
That a temporary device works temporarily is down to the device, not to you. I say that explicitly, because many patients arrive in my consulting room carrying exactly that feeling.
If you are not yet certain you want a permanent change. That decision is not made on the table while the balloon is coming out.
Why weight can return after any procedure and what is done about it is set out under weight regain after gastric sleeve. If a second operation is the question, start with gastric revision surgery.
Gastric balloon Izmir — and why not Istanbul
Most British patients searching for a gastric balloon Turkey picture Istanbul. It is worth knowing why we are not there, because the difference is not geography — it is how the clinic works.
The large Istanbul groups run high volumes across several hospitals, and which surgeon you get is decided by the schedule. Here Op. Dr. Volkan Arayıcı places every balloon himself. You know the name before you book, not on the morning.
İzmir Adnan Menderes has direct flights from several UK airports, and the clinic is about 20 minutes from arrivals. No two-hour transfer across a city of sixteen million.
A gastric balloon Izmir appointment is scheduled around you rather than slotted into a conveyor. For a 20-minute endoscopic procedure that matters more than it sounds.
JCI- and TEMOS-accredited hospital, IFSO-member surgeon, more than 5,000 bariatric procedures. Accreditation is audited from outside Turkey — it is not a badge a clinic awards itself.
If you would rather see the surgical side of what we do in the same city, that is set out under how safe gastric surgery in Turkey is.
Gastric balloon or Mounjaro? What to do when the injections stop
More and more gastric balloon Turkey enquiries start the same way: took the injection, lost weight, came off it — weight came back. The question is then whether a balloon fills the gap.
Both work through fullness, by different routes: the drug through hormones, the balloon through volume. Combining them is possible but must be discussed — GLP-1 agents slow gastric emptying, and together with a balloon that can make the first weeks considerably more uncomfortable.
If you have stopped a GLP-1 and the weight is returning, the honest question is not "balloon or injection" but: is a temporary measure enough for your goal? With a BMI over 35 and a repeated yo-yo history the answer is usually no. How we treat patients coming off these drugs is set out under bariatric surgery after GLP-1 and Ozempic.
Gastric balloon Turkey reviews
Gastric balloon Turkey reviews on a provider's own website can be written by anyone. So we point at sources you can read without going through us.
Gastric balloon Turkey: frequently asked questions
How much does a gastric balloon cost in Turkey?
With us the 6-month balloon is £1,200 and removal is £250 — £1,450 in total. The 12-month balloon is £2,100 plus £250 for removal. Flights are not included; the package begins when you land in İzmir. Privately in the UK the same treatment starts at around £4,000.
Can I get a gastric balloon on the NHS?
Almost never. The balloon is assessed as a temporary measure and is not routinely funded, so it is a private procedure across most of the UK. Surgical procedures can be funded, but only through tier 3 weight management, assessment and a panel decision, with waits commonly running from eighteen months to several years. Only your own ICB can tell you what applies where you live.
How much weight can you lose with a 12 month gastric balloon?
Most patients lose 10 to 25 kilos, at the top end up to about 35, and a 12 month gastric balloon does not change that as much as the price difference suggests. After around six months the stomach adapts and the fullness signal weakens, so the extra six months add less than people expect. That is why we recommend the 6-month balloon as standard.
Do people keep the weight off after a gastric balloon?
Often not, and we would rather say so. The balloon is a window, not a permanent change — once it is out your stomach is as it was. In patients whose balloon I remove and who go straight to a sleeve, I regularly see a stomach that has stretched around the balloon over the months, which fits what patients describe: hunger returning sooner than expected. Used as a starting point for real dietary change a balloon works; treated as the solution, the weight tends to come back.
Are gastric balloons worth it?
It depends entirely on what you want from it. If your BMI is between 27 and 35 and you want to lose 15 to 30 kilos without an operation, it is a reasonable tool. If your BMI is over 40, or you have type 2 diabetes, it is the wrong one and you will be disappointed by it. We will tell you which of the two you are before you book.
How bad are the first few days really?
Honestly: the first three days can be hard. Abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting are the rule in that window. You get medication for it and from day four the symptoms ease markedly. A small number of patients find it unbearable and have the balloon removed early — that is possible, but it ends the treatment without the result you came for.
Is the swallowable Allurion balloon not easier?
It needs no endoscopy, which is true and genuinely more comfortable. We still do not recommend it: it costs considerably more than the 6-month balloon and in our experience does not deliver the weight loss patients hope for. If you specifically want it we will discuss it, but we will tell you first why we think otherwise.
Can you remove a balloon fitted somewhere else?
Yes. Removing another provider's balloon costs £400. Bring the balloon type and the fitting date if you know them; if not, we establish it at gastroscopy.
How long do I need to stay in Turkey?
Two to three days. There is no incision and no general anaesthetic, so no hospital stay is needed — you go to the hotel the same day. Hotel nights are included in the price, flights are not.
Why İzmir rather than Istanbul?
Because one surgeon places every balloon here rather than a rota deciding on the day. İzmir Adnan Menderes has direct UK flights and the clinic is about twenty minutes from arrivals, against a long transfer across Istanbul. The accreditation standard is the same: JCI and TEMOS, with an IFSO-member surgeon.
Gastric balloon Turkey cost — your figure in one message
Send your height, weight, age and any existing conditions. You will get the assessment from me: which balloon, the full price including removal, and whether a balloon reaches your goal at all.
Ask for gastric balloon cost Turkey on WhatsApp Answered by the surgeon · no deposit · no instalment plans
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