Weight Doctors BARIATRICS®

Weight Doctors BARIATRICS® brings together the surgical procedures for permanent stomach reduction at Weight Doctors®: the gastric bypass and gastric sleeve surgery. Both are minimally invasive by keyhole technique and include private medical preliminary and follow-up care.

With us, a BMI of 40 is tendentially regarded as the lower limit. The gastric sleeve is recommended from a BMI above 40, the gastric bypass from 45 – in exceptional cases also below. Adults aged 18 and over whose conventional attempts to lose weight have been exhausted are treated.

We clarify that together in the consultation. What matters are your BMI, your weight-loss goal, related conditions such as diabetes or reflux, and your eating habits. The gastric sleeve is more suitable for weight-loss goals of 40–50 kg, the bypass for significantly more than 40 kg and for people who find it hard to give up sweets, high-fat snacks or high-calorie drinks.

After the consultation and a gastroenterological preliminary examination, the operation follows by keyhole technique under general anaesthesia, after which you stay 1–3 nights as an inpatient. Afterwards you follow a liquid-based diet for 4–6 weeks and gradually build your diet back up with our coaches – the individual steps are shown above under “How the treatment works”.

Depending on the procedure, the operation takes 60–150 minutes: the gastric sleeve about 75 minutes, the gastric bypass about 120–150 minutes. Afterwards you stay 1–3 nights as an inpatient, after the gastric sleeve usually only 1 night. You are usually presentable in public after 10–14 days.

Surgery takes place in the Weight Doctors® Nationalklinik in Wertheim, about 40 minutes south of Frankfurt Airport. Consultation, preparation and aftercare are also possible at our locations near you.

Pain is usually slight, because the operation is performed by keyhole technique and no large abdominal incision is needed. What usually remains are 3 small scars, about the size of a small mole.

Weight Doctors BARIATRICS® is also available through German statutory health insurance if the medical indication is established in line with the guidelines. Without health insurance, the treatment is available to self-paying patients. Prices start at €2,900. Part payment via medipay is possible. You will find all prices at a glance in the services overview.

Where the medical indication meets the guidelines, there is a chance of cost coverage – as a rule from a BMI of 40 or from 35 with recognised related conditions, usually after a 6-month multimodal programme (MMK). More on this under Stomach reduction and German health insurance.

No. We have no prior application. Before the operation we check all the prerequisites for you. You do not have to speak to your German health insurer; billing follows directly after the operation.

Yes. Because weight-loss surgery fundamentally changes your digestion, you must take nutritional supplements for life to prevent malnutrition: multivitamin preparations daily and, depending on your blood values, vitamin D, vitamin B, iron and calcium preparations too. You will receive a complete list of the preparations you need from your treatment team. In the long term the results are better if you eat healthily, take the prescribed preparations regularly and have your blood values checked regularly.

Weight-loss surgery is a powerful aid – but how lasting the result is also depends on your everyday life. A renewed weight gain is favoured above all by lack of exercise, constant snacking, fast food and sugary, light and alcoholic drinks. Your Weight Doctors® team supports you with nutrition and exercise offerings, personally and digitally.

The medical and emotional benefit can appear shortly after the procedure. In the long term, weight-loss surgery can bring about the following: considerable weight loss, ideally down to normal weight; an improvement in type 2 diabetes mellitus; lower blood pressure and lower cholesterol values; fewer pauses in breathing during sleep (sleep apnoea) and less heartburn; relief for the joints with more mobility and resilience; better mood and more self-esteem; relief from asthma and fewer migraine attacks.

Even minimally invasive procedures are operations with risks. These include: infection from stomach fluids leaking into the body cavity, wound infections at the puncture sites, weakening of the abdominal wall or abdominal wall hernias, gallbladder disease or gallstones due to rapid weight loss, blood clots with possible pulmonary embolism, and vitamin deficiency, which supplements, regular aftercare and blood checks can help prevent. As with any operation, life-threatening emergencies can occur, for example through the anaesthetic or an undetected complication after the operation.