Hello all,

New to the forum here. I had a gastric sleeve done back in 2012, the first 2 years were great and I was happy with my weight loss. After that, for the past few years I've been putting weight back on, so far nearly 50 lbs. I am seriously considering going to Mexico for the sleeve to bypass revision. Has anyone else had this surgery? What was your experience? Were there any hidden fees for revision surgery?

Thanks all!

I used Dr. Illan (for a virgin sleeve), had a wonderful experience, and there were no hidden fees. They'll give you the straight-up costs.

Something to really think about, is that yes, another surgery will knock some weight off (likely the 50lbs you've gained), but it may not get you all the way to goal.. and even if it does, it's not guaranteed to hold you there. A lifestyle change is required for long term success, even after a more severe surgery.

It would be good for you to get to the root of your issues.. the mind game is the hard part of bariatric procedures. Realizing that the surgery and initial post-op is actually the easy part.

Good luck, whatever you decide!

People typically go for a sleeve to bypass revision because there was something wrong with the sleeve (strictures, excess fundus left behind, etc.) that the surgeon didn't know how to correct or was incompatible with their physiology, often causing significant reflux problems that couldn't be corrected with diet or medication. Doing such a revision simply for inadequate weight loss or regain reasons is less successful as the two procedures are very similar in their strength, or power, against weight problems. Regain characteristics are similar for both procedures, though some patient may be more compatible with one or the other (think of it as a personality fit or conflict.) Look carefully at what the reasons for your regain were and address them first, or else you are likely to have the same problem in another few years. The more one gets into doing revisions, the more one paints oneself into a corner, leaving fewer options in the future.

Also, the bypass is something of a dead end procedure, as it is very difficult to revise it to something else if it isn't compatible with you - they can do bands over the bypass or various means of tightening the stoma but none have a very high success rate. The best way to correct a poorly performing bypass is to revise it to a DS (duodenal switch) which offers much better regain resistance than either the sleeve or the bypass, but is a very compex revision from a bypass (there's maybe a half dozen surgeons around the country qualified for such a procedure.) Fortunately, the DS is a very straightforward revision from a sleeve as it uses the sleeve as its basis, so that would be something to seriously consider if you need to revise a sleeve for weightloss or regain purposes.

This doc has several youtube videos out there that are worth watching and maybe get some ideas of what can be done in your situation. His overall diet/lifestyle approach is fairly vegetable intensive approach which has a lot of merit but may or may not be something that you can do.

Good luck in working through this problem.....

I had terrible reflux with the sleeve and unsatisfactory weight loss. Sind my MGB with Dr. Illan I am losing and no more reflux.

One of my main issues, since I had the surgery is horrid acid reflux, and even vomiting (the acid) in my sleep. While my weight loss hasn't been great, and I would also like to address that separately, fixing the reflux/vomiting problem is top of my list. I have talked to a few people who had the same problem and said that the bypass had fixed it with no further issues.