Good Morning America to feature adolescent gynecomastia story 2/23/08

[Dr. Elliot Jacobs]

ABC's Good Morning America will air a segment on the treatment of adolescent gynecomastia on Saturday morning, Feb 23, 2008 between 8:30am - 9:00am EST.  I am pleased to have been the participating doctor.

Tune in or Tivo!

Dr. Jacobs . FACS

[snycs10]

Look forward to watching it

[Grandpa Bambu]

Awesome video! Pretty much 'bang on the money' except for one thing. The male news anchor (don't know his name) said that Gynecomastia is a 'Rare' condition... I have read here on this site that approx 40-60 percent of all males have some form of Gyne. Rare? I don't think so...

Dr. Jacobs... when you made the marks on Scott's chest with marker, what were the straight lines for? Looked like 'eye-lashes' to me...

I found that the entire GMA program was very choppy. Did anyone else experience this?

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=4331232&page=1

GB

[Dr. Elliot Jacobs]

Hi GP -- they actually took hours of filming in order to condense it into 3 minutes or so -- and naturally some things do get chopped up.  And yes, the announcer was wrong -- it is not a rare condition, as I stated in my interview and which is on the abc.com website -- gyne (to some degree) occurs in 40 - 50% of all men.  They were also incorrect re type of anesthesia -- I have worked wit the same anesthesiologist (an MD) for the past 15 years and we work beautifully together -- like a symphony orchestra.  He administers intra-venous sedation anesthesia (like what you get when you have a colonoscopy) -- not general anesthesia.  The patient is sleeping gently but is unaware of the passage of time and in no pain whatsoever.  IT is NOT general anesthesia!  What is nice is that when the last stitch goes in, the patient's eyes open and he begins to talk to us -- no nausea, no vomiting -- and a quick recovery.

As for the "eyelashes" of my surgical markings, that is my reminder to myself to feather the edges of my lipo into the surrounding areas in order to achieve a smooth transition across the entire chest.  It also serves an additional purpose -- but this gets technical.  Whenever tissues are disturbed (such as in the feathering technique), the healing produces a bit of scar contraction.  That contraction of the surrounding areas, as well as the natural tightening of the chest skin (which occurs after the gyne is removed), all adds up to a pronounced tightening of the skin of the entire chest.  This is very useful when you have concentrated excess skin, which you saw on this patient's chest.

This was a very good piece and I hope it helps many other adolescent boys to seek help earlier rather than sit and wait their entire teenage years for their gyne to disappear.  Please bear in mind, I usually recommend waiting about two years after the onset of gyne to make sure it doesn't disappear on its own.  But if it doesn't, then I have no hesitation in performing surgery.  So far, I have operated on about 85 or more teenage boys and have followed them for years (the oldest is about 10 years post op).  And not one patient has had a re-growth of his gyne!!!  I believe that this totally dispels the popular, though scientifically totally un-proven idea held by most pediatricians, that if you wait long enough, the gyne will disappear -- it doesn't!

Elliot Jacobs, MD, FACS

[Grandpa Bambu]

Hi GP

It's 'GB' doc.... 'GB'!!!

This was a very good piece and I hope it helps many other adolescent boys to seek help earlier rather than sit and wait their entire teenage years for their gyne to disappear.

However, for many, they cannot afford the $6000+ for GRS.   

Gynecomastia is a deformity. And being a deformity, I feel that health insurance should cover surgery costs. Hypothetically, what if a 13 year old girl started grow a scrotum/testicles? Do you think that the insurance companies would say to the 'distraught' little 13 year old girl....  "Now, now sweetheart, it's just a cosmetic issue and we're not pay'n for corrective surgery."

I think you and Merle should start a petition against the big Insurance Companies to have Gynecomastic Reduction Surgery recognized as a 'claimable' procedure!

GB

[Dr. Elliot Jacobs]

Hi GB -- sorry for the misspelling previously.

It would not be wise to call gyne a deformity because that brings it into the realm of cosmetic surgery to fix a deformity, such as a nasal hump, etc.  It is truly a medical condition brought on by a hormonal abnormality and men with this medical condition should not be punished by companies calling it cosmetic.

Yes, I do believe insurance companies should cover surgery for this condition much more than they do.  Right now, they have a very, very restrictive set of guidelines before they will cover it.  I have battled insurance companies for years on behalf of my patients -- but to no avail.  It is David against an army of Goliaths, and so far, the Goliaths have prevailed.

Elliot Jacobs, MD

[Dr. Elliot Jacobs]

Yes, I agree with your comments, BTs.  I do not know where they came up with an average fee of $3000 for the surgery in the US -- I certainly didn't tell them that.  I practice in midtown Manhattan, where everything is expensive.  I could hardly pay my operating room costs and anesthesiologist for $3000!

Dr Jacobs

[moobius]

anyone find a link to the video segment?

[GynO_DuDe]

Excellent video! And $3000 average? I paid £4000 and thats literally nearly $8000, im sure it can't possibly be that cheap.

[Dr. Elliot Jacobs]

I would love to help a lot of kids -- but I also have to pay to feed my kids, too!

Dr J

[merle]

Here is the Yahoo Link. We will have it posted shortly in the video section of The Gyne main page.

Merle

Male Breast Surgery
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/ver/251.7/popup/index.php?cl=6587926