I met with my surgeon for the first time on Tuesday and was surprised to learn that he does not routinely conduct a leak test before sending patients home the day after surgery. He told me that leak tests are not performed by most surgeons, which is not the impression I have had from reading VST. Does anyone have an opinion on the importance and/or prevalence of the leak test? I'm wondering if I should consider another doctor.

I have to laugh here. Not all surgeons have leak tests while awake, your surgeon was not lying. Not all surgeons have drains inserted into patients. Not all use catheters after sugery. Not all surgeries use morphine/other IV drugs to manage pain after surgery. Not all VSG surgeries are overnight stay, this is becoming more common. Many of those out of country doctors perform leak tests, drain, catheders and pain balls. YIKES - the above scares me more than anything else.

I had none of the above (yes, really no pain) and was also an outpatient for VSG and reached weight loss goal in 5 months. My surgeon performed the very first laparoscopic WLS in US ... a gastric bypass over 10 years ago in November which took 11 hours since he was venturing into the unknown. My surgeon performed the very first "spider" VSG surgery in US. He performed the very first band surgery. He has done surgery on a several of famous stars. He is acknowledged by multiple Bariatric Societies as the go to guy since when a new procedure is considered - medical companies seek him out. He has taught so many of the other bariatric surgeons across the country in new WLS procedures. Media seeks him out, he was last seen on The Doctors TV show in November talking about VSG surgery. (All this information is verifiable by internet search) So, do I trust Dr. Q’s opinion and his experience? Yes.

Now that others have scared you that somehow your surgeon might be substandard - I do recommend asking surgeon why no leak test, why no drain, why no catheters, why no pain ball so you know why. Maybe he doesn't have a good answer...and then you will know if he is or is not worthy of your trust. Best wishes.

Thanks everyone for your feedback. I recognize that there are many criteria involved in choosing a doctor and that there is often more than one "right way" to do things: one can see that in the varied experiences of VST members on a variety of topics. It does appear, though, that among those who responded here the leak test is performed more often than not, either during or after surgery. The difference between not doing one at all and doing two or three of them, as some described, is still a little puzzling to me. The doctor I met with said he didn't do them because only one of his patients had ever had a problem, and he was aware of it before the test would have been performed anyway.