Gastric Balloon Turkey

Most people who ask about a gastric balloon in Turkey have one of two stories. Some have a BMI that's too low for surgery, and they're tired of being told to just try harder. Others could have surgery but aren't ready to lose part of their stomach for good. A balloon sits between those two worlds. It's in for a set time, it does real work while it's there, and then your stomach goes back to how it was.

The section above explains what the balloon does. Here we get practical. The different types and how we choose between them, what the first week honestly feels like, the risks, removal, gastric balloon before and after photos, and the price of each option.

Which gastric balloon, and why

We place several kinds, and they differ mainly in how they go in and how long they stay.

Two of our balloons go in by endoscope, with you sedated. The difference is time, six months or twelve. For either one your BMI has to be 30 or higher. To pick between them, we look at how much weight you're hoping to shift and at what happened with your past attempts. If earlier diets fell apart within weeks, the extra six months can be worth having. A year is a long time to share your stomach with something, though, and plenty of people are glad to see theirs go at month six.

There's also an adjustable balloon, suitable from a BMI of 27 up to 40. Its volume can be changed while it's in, which helps if you're struggling with side effects or the effect starts to fade. We quote that one case by case.

Then there's the balloon you swallow, which needs a bit more explanation.

The swallowable balloon

The Allurion balloon arrives as a capsule on the end of a thin tube. Down it goes with a glass of water. Before anything else happens, an X-ray confirms it's landed in the stomach. Only then is it filled, through that same tube, and the tube comes back up and out. You're awake for all of it, and nobody puts a camera down your throat. Roughly four months later a small valve opens by itself. The balloon goes flat and makes its own way out.

It's suitable from a BMI of 27. People like that there's nothing to have removed. The trade-off is the shorter window. Four months goes quickly, so the work on eating habits has to start from day one.

Who can have a gastric balloon

The starting point is a BMI of 27 or 30, depending on the type. That's lower than for any operation, which is the whole reason balloons exist.

Some things rule it out or make us cautious. A previous operation on the stomach is one. A large hiatus hernia or bad reflux is another, since the balloon can make heartburn worse. You can't have one while pregnant. People who rely on anti-inflammatories for a bad back, say, or who are on blood thinners, usually aren't suitable either, since those drugs can irritate a stomach lining that already has a balloon pressing on it. And with a BMI well over 40, a balloon alone rarely gets far enough. Our gastric sleeve page will probably be more use.

At the other end, if you're near the bottom of the range and mostly struggle with portion size, gastric botox is a lighter option to compare.

When a balloon comes before surgery

Not everyone uses a balloon instead of an operation. Some have it before one. Surgery on a very heavy patient carries more risk. Taking some weight off with a balloon first can bring that down, and it often makes the operation itself more straightforward. It's worth raising if a surgeon at home has told you that you're "too heavy to operate on yet".

Placement day in Istanbul

You'll fast beforehand. On the day you meet the team and spend time with your dietitian, who'll walk you through the first week's eating plan before anything happens.

For an endoscopic balloon, the placement takes around twenty to thirty minutes under sedation. The deflated balloon goes down through your mouth, is checked by camera, and is then filled. You'll rest afterwards until you're steady. Swallowable balloons are quicker still and you stay awake throughout.

The first week with a gastric balloon

We won't pretend this part is pleasant. For three to five days your stomach treats the balloon as an intruder. Nausea is common, and so are cramps and vomiting, especially on the first day or two. You'll have medication for it, and it does help.

Food starts as liquids only, a little at a time. By the end of the first week most people are onto soft foods, and after that it's normal food in much smaller amounts. If you can't keep fluids down for more than a day, call us. Dehydration is the thing to avoid in that first week, and it creeps up faster than people expect.

Living with a balloon

After the first week, it mostly fades into the background. You might burp more than usual. Rolling onto your side at night, you may feel it move. Some people say they can hear it slosh after a drink. All normal.

You'll usually take an acid-reducing medicine for as long as the balloon is in, to protect the stomach lining. Fizzy drinks tend to cause trouble, so most people give them up. Large meals simply won't fit, which is the point.

When something feels wrong with a gastric balloon

The real gastric balloon risks are small, but they're worth recognising. A few people simply can't get used to the balloon, and it comes out early. That's no failure on their part. Leaks are rarer again. Many endoscopic balloons are filled with fluid tinted with a safe blue dye, for exactly this reason. If one starts to leak, the dye ends up in your urine, which turns blue or greenish. Ring us that day. Once a balloon deflates it can slip down into the bowel, and we'd rather deal with it before it gets there.

Some things can't wait for a phone call. Bad tummy pain that keeps going, vomiting that hasn't eased after the first few days, or not managing to keep even water down all mean a trip to an emergency department. Make sure they know there's a balloon in your stomach.

Gastric balloon results

The published figure for a gastric balloon in Turkey is a loss of 10 to 20% of your total weight over six months. In pounds, that's roughly 20 to 50. The scale usually moves fastest in the first three months, when you're most aware of the balloon. Everyone's different, and there's no guarantee.

Gastric balloon results in published studies show the same pattern again and again. People who use the months to change how they eat keep more of the weight off once it's gone. People who wait for the balloon to do it all tend to see the weight drift back.

Taking the balloon out

When its time is up, an endoscopic balloon is removed the same way it went in, under sedation. It's emptied first, then drawn out through the mouth. The swallowable balloon empties and passes on its own, so there's no removal appointment.

The weeks after removal are the real test. Your appetite comes back to its old size fairly quickly. That's why your dietitian's follow-up runs for twelve months, well past the removal date. Plan for the first month without the balloon as carefully as you planned for the first week with it.

Gastric balloon before and after photos

The gastric balloon before and after photos in our gallery are labelled at six months, around when an endoscopic balloon comes out. That's a fair point to compare. A more useful one comes six months after removal, when you can see what the habits held onto.

Look for that in any clinic's before and after gallery, and in gastric balloon reviews too. People writing a year on, with the balloon long gone, tell you far more than someone two weeks in.

Gastric balloon cost and price in Turkey

Our gastric balloon price in Turkey depends on the type. The six-month balloon is €1,400 and the twelve-month balloon €2,300. The swallowable Allurion balloon is €3,200. The adjustable balloon is quoted case by case. Protein shakes and vitamins can be added for €100.

Removal of an endoscopic balloon we placed costs €300, and €500 if someone else placed it. Count that in when comparing any gastric balloon cost, since some clinics leave it out of the headline figure. The swallowable balloon has no removal fee because it passes naturally. Your package includes a hotel next to the clinic, a private driver and a nurse, with twelve months of dietitian follow-up. Prices in the UK and elsewhere are noticeably higher, as the table above shows.

What to send us

Your height and weight are the place to start, plus any operations you've had and the medicines you take. If you get heartburn, mention it. Our Istanbul team will tell you which gastric balloon in Turkey suits your BMI, how long a window makes sense, and whether removal is in your quote. If a balloon isn't the right fit, we'll say that too.

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