Purchasing a vacuum bell can be confusing because there are many mixed reviews online. There used to be a lot of scammy websites selling poorly made vacuum bells.
Luckily, those websites and sellers were deleted because customers reported them due to negative experiences.
As of May 2022, two trustworthy vacuum bell manufacturers have built excellent quality products and work very effectively correcting pectus excavatum non-surgically.
These are:
- Eckart Klobe Vacuum Bell (Trichterbrust Vacuum Bell)
- Pectus Healing
Eckart Klobe Vacuum Bell
The creator and supplier of the vacuum bell are from Germany. His name is Eckart Klobe. They require a doctor’s note to purchase, and they are the most expensive supplier I am aware of.
Their website is www.trichterbrust.de, which is in German, so you probably need to use Google Translate. As of May 2022, Eckart Klobe’s website seems to be down.
Before the website crashed, it was still outdated by today’s standards, and some visitors may find it confusing.
How to Order
Unfortunately, purchasing Eckart Klobe’s vacuum bell can be a complicated process.
Mr. Eckart Klobe is located in Germany and ships from there. However, he doesn’t have an online store. He only sells to patients with a doctor’s recommendation for vacuum bell therapy. He usually sells them for 670 Euros shipped.
Even though their website is down, you can still try to contact them and request to purchase a vacuum bell by sending them an e-mail at webmaster@trichterbrust.de. You can send the e-mail in English, as they will reply in English.
Mr. Eckart Klobe’s vacuum bell is the most commonly used in the non-surgical correction of pectus excavatum research. Also, they offer a vacuum bell for women too.
Important Things to Consider
Before ordering, a doctor must confirm your suitability for the vacuum bell on a form. You’ll get a “declaration of acquisition.” Then, you send this form to Mr. Klobe.
If your doctor isn’t willing to do that, Mr. Klobe can find you doctors familiar with vacuum bell therapy.
Make sure you understand the customs fees in your country because Eckart Klobe’s vacuum bells are usually held at customs.
Pectus Healing
PectusHealing is a dependable manufacturer that builds excellent vacuum bells, similar to Eckart Klobe’s. They offer multiple sizes at different prices you can choose from to suit your individual needs.
How to Buy
You can order the device immediately from their website. You should do a few chest measurements and determine which model suits you best.
PectusHealing has a section that guides you through the measurement process. Luckily, there are a lot of vacuum bell sizes you can choose from. I bought the 19 x 18 cm vacuum bell, which perfectly fits my chest.
Great Reviews
Most recommendations about vacuum bells on pectus excavatum-related forums appear to be PectusHealing.com. Also, they have a very positive rating on Trustpilot.
Free Shipping Worldwide with DHL Express
They expanded their products globally to avoid any disruptions in delivery. They have new production and logistic centers in South America and Europe.
PectusHealing offers free shipping worldwide with DHL Express. If you’re in the US, expect the vacuum bell to arrive just a few days after ordering. It takes about a week for the vacuum bells to arrive in Europe from South America.
During the pandemic, they had a long waiting list. This frustrated some customers. However, this problem is gone after opening the new production and logistic centers.
You can also contact them on Whatsapp at +50762311095
Why I Trust These Manufacturers
First and foremost, Mr. Ekcart Klobe is the inventor of the vacuum bell. He builds the vacuum bells used in most scientific research about the non-surgical correction of pectus excavatum with vacuum bells. I haven’t used his vacuum bells.
I also trust PectusHealing because I ordered a vacuum bell from their website and own one. I had a positive experience with them, and they responded professionally and quickly to my e-mail messages.
The PectusHealing vacuum bell arrived with DHL Express from South America to North Macedonia in just a week. The best thing is they offer free shipping, so you don’t have to worry about shipping costs.
The PectusHealing vacuum bell uses high-quality medical silicone that feels comfortable on the skin and has a strong vacuum that lasts without pumping for a long time. It is very similar to the vacuum bells made by Eckart Klobe.
Also, people have confirmed hundreds of times on forums such as Reddit how good these vacuum bells are. Other advertised websites appear on Google when you type “vacuum bell,” that don’t have enough information on whether the sites are trustworthy or whether the products they sell work.
I wouldn’t risk buying vacuum bells from those websites that use paid advertisements to push their rankings on Google for a short period. I would purchase from those reliable vacuum bell manufacturers.
Pectus Lab
Pectus Lab is a Turkish manufacturer of vacuum bells in Istanbul, Turkey. This is an organization that builds various devices to improve pectus deformities.
Pectus Lab has a clinical research partnership with Pektus Klinik, Turkey’s only pectus treatment center, founded by Dr. Mustafa Yüksel, a prolific researcher on pectus deformities. Pectus Lab organizes various congresses about chest wall deformities worldwide.
Unfortunately, their website is in Turkish. They offer five vacuum bell sizes:
- 110mm
- 125mm
- 140mm
- 160mm
- 190mm
You can ask to purchase a vacuum bell by sending an e-mail to info@pectuslab.com or calling them at +90 541 427 52 52. You can also find their social media accounts on their website.
I haven’t seen any reviews about their products online. However, I believe their vacuum bells to be of high quality as they are affiliated with Dr. Mustafa Yüksel. He is one of the most famous pectus excavatum surgeons globally.
Used Vacuum Bells
Used vacuum bells are very hard to find online. The vacuum bell is considered a medical product. In some countries, it is illegal to sell medical products without permission.
This is why buying a used vacuum bell can be difficult on sites such as eBay.
E-Bay
There used to be a famous vacuum bell supplier on e-Bay from Latvia, with more than 1000 products sold. The vacuum bells were sold for $250.
However, this seller deleted his account, probably due to medical product policies on e-Bay, or intellectual property infringement.
There used to be various types of vacuum bells for sale on eBay.
An eBay seller, Shenkelpoe, used to sell homemade vacuum bells with a metal cooking bowl, two washers, a fitting for tubing, and a cheap pump. He sprayed the bowl and washers with a rubberized layer to add a premium look to the device.
The seller didn’t mention that this was a homemade device. The bowl was tiny, and the vacuum bell couldn’t work correctly if you had an asymmetrical pectus excavatum.
Alibaba
You can also purchase a vacuum bell from Alibaba.com. Guangzhou T.k Medical Instrument Co. manufactures them. However, the problem is that the minimum order is ten sets.
Unfortunately, you can’t purchase one single vacuum bell for personal use. Also, this vacuum bell can’t be shipped to many countries because of copyright and international treaty laws.
This type of vacuum bell had a good build quality, and many people with pectus excavatum on forums shared their positive experiences with this type of vacuum bell.
Swedish Vacuum Bell
There used to be a seller of vacuum bells, more popularly known as the Swedish Vacuum Bell. They were distributors of the Guangzhou TK vacuum bells.
Their website doesn’t work anymore because they are out of stock or have problems purchasing from Guangzhou TK at a low price. I believe they bought vacuum bells in large quantities for cheaper and sold them as their own branded vacuum bells.
It said they had CE certifications.
Be Careful Before Ordering
Beware of scammers selling poorly constructed vacuum bells. There used to be a lot of sellers that lied about refunds and reviews. I’ve read a comment on Reddit sharing his negative experience with scam websites that, fortunately, don’t exist anymore.
These sites bought cheap vacuum bells from Alibaba for $50 and resold them for hundreds of dollars. They took advantage of us, people with a chest wall deformity who wanted to get our deformation fixed without surgery.
Also, these websites were made very unprofessionally, claiming you could permanently improve your deformity in 1-2 months with the vacuum bell. They made false promises while selling horrible vacuum bells that lose vacuum while you wear them.
The Bottom Line
Before ordering a vacuum bell, please be aware that many scammers use Google Ads to push their websites up in the rankings of Google to make quick money.
I’ve seen a lot of people who bought vacuum bells from such scammy websites, and they received devices that lost vacuum pressure continuously. These companies never replied to their customers and didn’t refund their purchases.
I ordered a vacuum bell from PectusHealing, delighted with the build quality. The Eckart Klobe vacuum bells are also of very high quality. Unfortunately, the ordering process can be difficult and costly.
If you have had any experience with any of the vacuum bells I mentioned or have a recommendation for a vacuum bell manufacturer that I didn’t say, please write a comment below or contact me personally. I would love to talk with you.
Thank you for reading!
10 Sources
- Trichterbrust, Saugglocke gegen Trichterbrust, Saugglocke nach Eckart Klobe [Internet]. [cited 2022 Dec 1]. Available from: http://www.trichterbrust.de/
- Vacuum Bell for Pectus Excavatum - PECTUS Healing [Internet]. Pectus Healing TM.
[cited 2022 Dec 1]. Available from: https://pectushealing.com/ - PECTUS Healing TM is rated “Excellent” with 4.6 / 5 on Trustpilot [Internet]. Trustpilot.
[cited 2022 Dec 1]. Available from: https://www.trustpilot.com/review/pectushealing.com - Iesus1611RealBible. Got My Vacuum Bell (Pectus Healing) [Internet]. r/PectusExcavatum. 2021 [cited 2022 Dec 1]. Available from: www.reddit.com/r/PectusExcavatum/comments/qhdn37/got_my_vacuum_bell_pectus_healing/
- Powerful_Junket_3139. My pectus healing vacuum bell results minor pectus -1 week
[Internet]. r/PectusExcavatum. 2021 [cited 2022 Dec 1]. Available from: www.reddit.com/r/PectusExcavatum/comments/r5h4od/my_pectus_healing_vacuum_bell_results_minor/ - Pectus | Corset [Internet]. pectuslab. [cited 2022 Dec 1]. Available from:
https://www.pectuslab.com - Pektus Klinik | Prof. Dr. Mustafa Yüksel [Internet]. [cited 2022 Dec 1]. Available from:
http://www.pektusklinik.com/ - Vacuum Bell Non-surgical Option To Treat Pectus Excavatum - Buy Vacuum Pump,Vacuum Bell,Pectus Excavatum Product on Alibaba.com [Internet]. [cited 2022 Dec 1].
Available from: https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Vacuum-Bell-Non-SurgicalOption-to_1600434222289.html?spm=a2700.galleryofferlist.normal_offer.d_title.6574353fiuTCBR - Guangzhou T.K Medical Instrument Co., Ltd. [Internet]. [cited 2022 Dec 1]. Available
from: https://tk-medical.en.alibaba.com/minisiteentrance.html?spm=a2700.details.cordpanyb.2.2cdf29e6EkeXgZ&from=detail&productId=1600434222289 - Where can I report scam website that sells faulty VB? They lied about everything : PectusExcavatum [Internet]. [cited 2022 Dec 1]. Available from: https://www.reddit.com/r/PectusExcavatum/comments/fnayqb/comment/fl9l08l/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
It’s hard to find knowledgeable people in this particular topic, but you seem like you know what you’re talking about!
Thanks
It’s nearly impossible to find knowledgeable people about this subject, but you seem like you know what you’re talking
about! Thanks
Thank you for your website.
Do you know anything about the vacuum bells sold by pectus international? We had a meeting at Shriners Children’s Hospital in Chicago and they recommended this brand.
Thank you.