How surgery abroad actually works (step-by-step)

Wellness Travels is a medical tourism service connecting international patients with surgical treatment in Lithuania.

We cover a range of procedures, including orthopaedic surgery, plastic surgery, bariatric treatment, and urology, with care organised from consultation to rehabilitation within one system.

A lot of people consider travelling abroad for surgery, but what the process actually looks like is often unclear. It usually goes something like this:

1. Initial review
You send your medical info (scans, test results, photos — depends on the procedure), and a specialist evaluates your case.

2. Clear plan before you travel
You get a structured plan with what’s included — procedure, hospital stay, recovery — so you’re not figuring things out on arrival.

3. Arrival & coordination
Patients are usually picked up from the airport, and everything is organised locally (transfers, admission, schedule), so there’s no need to navigate a foreign healthcare system on your own.

4. Pre-op checks
Final consultations and tests are done on-site before surgery.

5. Procedure
Surgery is performed by a specialised team, depending on the type of treatment.

6. Early recovery in the same place
This is something many people underestimate — recovery starts immediately, and in some clinics, both surgery and rehabilitation are done under one roof.

7. Structured recovery
For procedures like orthopaedics or bariatric surgery, rehabilitation or follow-up isn’t left “for later” — it’s planned and supervised from the start.

8. Return home
Most patients stay from a few days up to around 1–2 weeks, depending on the procedure.

From what we see, the biggest difference is not just the surgery itself, but how much of the process is actually organised for the patient — especially right after surgery.

If anyone here has done surgery abroad, curious what your experience was like.