I had surgery two days ago. excision with no lipo

[tannhauser]

Hi, I have had gyne for as long as I can remember. About two years ago I started reseaching what can be done. Before I go into details to the steps I took ill give you my stats.

Alberta, Canada
Age 28
180lbs fit with almost no fat.
6'2

my gyno is not huge. People don't bother me about it but I know its there.

I first went to a plastic surgeon and I was very unhappy with my visit. After doing a lot of research I already knew what needed to be done which was a actual excision. Now the plastic surgeon came in showing me pictures of patients before and after pics with his laser lipo technique. He said a excision would be to invasive leaving scars and a horrile recovery. I called him on his bs, I can't believe this guy wanted to suck out my mammaries... oh and he wanted 8grand for this.

After that I spoke with my actual doctor and he seemed upset that I even went to a PS. He sent me to a general surgeon who works with a lot of breast cancer patients and is very familiar with gynecomastia. He also assured me it woulds be covered by Alberta Health Care. God bless Canada and our health care system  

My surgeon made me get a ultrasound (I think that's what it was) to confirm the type of tissue. After that he explained he would make a small cut on the nipples and cut the gland out. He said its unlikely any real scaring would happen but if I am unhappy with the results I would then be refered to a PS. All in all the process seemed professional and my gyne was treated like an actual medical issue and not a cosmetic one.

Day of the surgery. Everything wen't smooth. They installed drainage tubes and insited i wear no compression vest. I was put under and when I woke I was taken care of by a team of nurses. They gave me a morphine shot waited about two hours then let my gf take me home. I was given 30 T3 ( not needed). Canada health care is awsome. The nurses called me twice yesterday and one came to my place today to remove my tubes.
Everything looks great.

I hope my little story gives some users some insight into the process. I think theres a lot of misconceptions about having to go to a plastic surgeon. I also think its important to look at this issue as a real medical issue instead of a cosmetic one. Please get as many opinions as possible.

[Dr. Elliot Jacobs]

I honestly hope your results are to your satisfaction -- but I must disagree with your conclusions.

First, general surgery is a pre-requisite for training in plastic surgery.  So virtually all plastic surgeons have a general surgical background.  But then they are further educated in techniques that are quite different from general surgeons.  In fact, when I reflect on my training, I had to "un-learn" some of the tissue handling techniques from general surgery in order to become a plastic surgeon, where more delicate techniques are often required.

After thousands of gyne operations, I have concluded that excision alone, except in some very rare cases, cannot provide the best results.  Lipo does more than remove fat -- it allows the surrounding skin to re-distribute so that the results are smooth.  Without lipo, sometimes the areolar skin has nowhere to go and results in a post-op puffy nipple.  Or, if too much tissue was excised, then one can end up with a crater.

Please keep us informed as to your progress.

Dr Jacobs