Surgery and areola size

[Grim]

If you get gyne surgery can the doctor make your areola size look normal as well? Also do they charge extra for this?

[DrBermant]

If you get gyne surgery can the doctor make your areola size look normal as well? Also do they charge extra for this?

Skin reduction is a good compromise for the patient with a great deal of sagging skin.  For a patient with normal skin elasticity, skin reduction is not normally needed during breast reduction surgery.  Elastic skin can really shrink quite well on its own and skin reduction scars then are normally not needed.

Nipple Areola Reduction Gallery - part I

Nipple Areola Reduction Gallery - part II

Nipple Areola Reduction Gallery - part III

How well skin shrinks after removing mass behind it can vary greatly as shown by the two balloon examples on that link.  For my techniques, most of the change occurs in the operating room.  There can be some further shrinkage over time after surgery.  Building muscle mass can be one way of filling up a loose skin envelope.  However, it is very difficult to maintain such large muscles throughout our lives.

However if after weight loss or surgery the nipples are low and tissue hangs and bounces around, skin reduction can really improve the contour of the chest.  Too many patients have commented to me how their lives were changed and that the scars were a good trade off.

Excess Skin of the Male Chest with Gynecomastia comes in various degrees.  Here are my Standard Pictures for Evaluating Extra Skin on the Male Chest.

For some patients, my small incision skin reduction chest lift is an option.  This eliminates the unnatural very obvious unnatural vertical scar.  For smaller problems, I have evolved my Internal Lift Male Mastopexy Surgery that has even smaller scars.  My internal lift is not suitable when the excess skin is a major contributing factor for the deformity.  A Male Donut Mastopexy when pushed too far will leave a star burst deformity that detracts from the result. That is why picking your surgeon carefully can be so important.

Yes, scars are a compromise.  We need some place to remove the excess skin.  The shorter the scars, the less skin that is removed. 

Options are best explored during an evaluation with an experienced surgeon who can demonstrate their skills with this compromise issue of loose skin of the male chest sculpture.

Hope this helps,

Michael Bermant, MD
Learn More About Male Mastopexy Chest Lift for Sagging Tissues

[Dr. Elliot Jacobs]

The diameter of a male areola has a range of normal -- just take a walk on a beach and see for yourself.

One of the benefits of gyne surgery is that the areolar diameter shrinks spontaneously (just as the skin tightens spontaneously) when the underlying tissues are removed. This happens automatically, courtesy of Mother Nature.  The surgeon doesn't have to do anything extra for this to happen.

There are some men with extremely large areolas who seek areolar reduction.  This would involve a scar completely around the edge of the areola.  Problem is that suturing has to be done under tension, which frequently results in unattractive, widened scars.  I don't recommend it except for extreme, unique circumstances.

Dr Jacobs

[Dr. Elliot Jacobs]

The diameter of a male areola has a range of normal -- just take a walk on a beach and see for yourself.

One of the benefits of gyne surgery is that the areolar diameter shrinks spontaneously (just as the skin tightens spontaneously) when the underlying tissues are removed. This happens automatically, courtesy of Mother Nature.  The surgeon doesn't have to do anything extra for this to happen.

There are some men with extremely large areolas who seek areolar reduction.  This would involve a scar completely around the edge of the areola.  Problem is that suturing has to be done under tension, which frequently results in unattractive, widened scars.  I don't recommend it except for extreme, unique circumstances.

Dr Jacobs

[Litlriki]

I recently posted three patients' photos demonstrating peri-areolar skin reduction done at the same time as excision of gynecomastia:

http://www.gynecomastia.org/smf/index.php?topic=20301.0

http://www.gynecomastia.org/smf/index.php?topic=20300.0

http://www.gynecomastia.org/smf/index.php?topic=20299.0

I will typically do this in patients who have large areolas and also require some skin removal.  In patients who have only moderately enlarged areolas and no real extra skin, I'll first allow for the shrinkage that occurs naturally after the procedure.  If that's not adequate, I will reduce the areola with a "donut reduction" under local anesthesia after about a year or so.  This does result in a scar around the areola, but this tends to fade fairly well.  This patient had his gynecomastia treated when he was 17. He had a fair post-operative result, and his areola diminished significantly in size, but not to the patient's satisfaction.  Three years later, he underwent reduction of his areola under local anesthesia: