I'm new here and have questions

[Knight1982]

I've been reading these boards over the past few years but finally registered. I'm 23 years old, 5' 10", 220 lbs, large frame guy. I've been overweight since around 1993 when I was in 5th grade. That's when I started to notice my gyne. I think my case could be considered severe compared to the pics I've seen on here. But I finally told my dad about my issue with my chest back in March (wasn't easy, I was super embarassed, but I thought enough was finally enough) and he took me to my family doctor and he said that I definitely have gyne and suggested getting the surgery to fix it. He wanted me to get blood tests and a MRI to make sure it wasn't anything else. I got the test results and thankfully nothing else was in the test results. So my doc gave me a number of a specialist/plastic surgeon who deals with gyne and was highly recommended by my doc so I went to that and they examined me and told me that what procedure they could do for me involving surgery. He said that he'd make a small incision in the breast and remove the fatty tissue then use liposuction to firm it all out, or something like that, I forget exactly what he said since it's been like 4 months. He said it wasn't considered a huge operation and he said it could take about an hour. He was really nice and friendly and answered a bunch of my questions I asked him. I told him that I couldn't afford the surgery but he told me to write a letter to my insurance company asking them to pay for it and he faxed over my letter and my test results and pictures of my gyne and I waited about 12 weeks and they called me saying that the insurance company denied my claim. I knew that was gonna happen, cause I've read on this message board many of times how insurance companies don't wanna pay for it cause they consider it cosmetic. These insurance companies don't know that it also goes way beyond looks. It screws with your head, your self esteem, they way you think people are looking at you, etc. So they denied it then sent me a folder in the mail with a letter stating that denied it. They included a pamphlet about gyne and what it's all about. They also included a letter saying that if I would wanna pay outta my own pocket for the procedure to let them know. They break down the cost as follows:

SURGEON'S FEE: $3075
OPERATING ROOM/SUPPLIES: $660
ANESTHESIA: $400
TOTAL: $4135

So I read it but then when I looked at the one part saying PROCEDURE: Mastectomy for Gynecomastia I was like what?!? Mastectomy?!? That wasn't the word used that the doc told me. He told me what he was gonna do and didn't mention anything about a Mastectomy. If I'm correct a Mastectomy is when they remove the whole breast and lymph nodes. Right? My mom had breast cancer and that's what they did for her but this doc didn't say anything about removing breasts. The way he made it sound was that he was gonna basically drain the fat out. That's different than removing a whole breast and the stuff it's connected to. My dad wants to know if I'm gonna go ahead and get this done or not. I want it done but a Mastectomy wasn't what I had in mind. I could get a loan to pay for my surgery but I'm confused about this and super nervous. I don't know what I should do. Is what the doc told me that he was gonna do considered a Mastectomy? Is that just a fancy word for the procedure or am I correct about that this Mastectomy is removal of full breasts? Sorry about the long post.

[ItsOK]

 Is what the doc told me that he was gonna do considered a Mastectomy?

I have seen this word used before on this forum to describe the procedure.  From a medical perspective it probably just means that they haven't yet coined a word for the procedure in a male, or the insurance folks are using an existing "procedure code".

You seem to have some understanding of what the doctor is proposing, but not a complete one.  If I were going to have someone cutting on me, I'd want to be sure I understood exactly what he was going to do, how it would affect me, and the recovery time.  My advice would be to have another chat with the surgeon to get your questions answered.

If you're 23, you're probably old enough to go to the doctor by yourself.