Hi All
This will be my first ever post on the forum. My plan was to see out the whole surgery process so I can give an answer to everyone's questions. I want to start by saying this forum has been a massive help for me and ensured I finally got rid of my Gynecomastia. I often noticed people would post an issue, and never come back to say whether it was resolved or not. I wanted to let everyone know my experience from start to finish, to hopefully put some of these questions to bed. This will be a long post but it should answer all of the main questions for those with Gynecomastia Type 1 (Puffy Nipples).
The Beginning
Like most on here, I had Gynecomastia since I was in my early teens. I always suspected something wasn’t quite right. When I reached 16 years old, I mentioned it to my doctor whilst I was seeing him for something else. He told me it could or it couldn’t be Gynecomastia, but I’d have to wait it out a couple more years. He also mentioned when most guys put on a bit of muscle, that usually makes them feel a bit better. Since then I’ve cut down, bulked up and maintained my weight. None of it ever made me any happier with the look of my chest.
I then went back to the same doctor when I was 19, but this time with photos of my nipples when they were warm. He said “That definitely is Gynecomastia” and then went onto say “the issue is” I stopped him there; I explained I knew it would be expensive and the NHS wouldn’t cover it as it comes under cosmetic. He then gave me a recommendation for two local surgeons.
My First Appointment
Around April 2015, I was dreading the summer coming around again, as we all know puffy nipples only really look bad in the heat. I decided to book an appointment with Dr Alex Chambers in Harley Street. I was 19 years old, the first thing she said was “who will be paying for this?” and “do your parents know your here?” the answer to the first question was “I’ll be paying” (I’ve worked in central London full time since I was 18). Regardless to say, I already wasn’t going to pay her my £4500 which took me about a year to save up. I took my top off and Dr Chambers said "You may not even have Gynecomastia, its very mild". I explained, “I agree, it looks fine at the moment because my nipples are cold”. Dr Chambers then completed an Ultrasound scan and informed me I had Type 1B Gynecomastia, a mixture of Fat and Glandular tissue. Exactly as I suspected, mild, but nothing any amount of exercise or dieting could resolve. One last thing Dr Chambers said to me was “I don’t understand why men with Type 1 Gynecomastia get it done” Brilliant.
The appointment was actually really enlightening, because it finally put to bed my thoughts of, do I just need to drop down a bit more body fat (I’ve mostly always been about 12-15%) or do I need to bulk up and so on. I now knew there was only one solution to the problem, paying £4500 and having to tell my parents.
I had a second appointment shortly after at another Harley Street clinic, primarily for another opinion and price. It turns out I’d booked myself in to see the wrong doctor who only dealt with liposuction and not the gland removal. He felt my chest and informed me the issue was due to glandular tissue and I would need to see another surgeon. Two weeks later I went back.
The second surgeon explained that he wouldn’t do my procedure because it’s too mild. He mentioned that some men come in and have actual breasts, which obviously from years of researching the issue I understood. For some reason he was reluctant to look at the photos I was trying to show him and wouldn't listen when I explained “My nipples are cold, which is why they look fine”. The doctor also added “give it another couple of years and you’ll probably change your mind”.
After these two appointments I was quite deflated. The first doctor (Local GP) told me I definitely have Gynecomastia. The second (Alex Chambers) said I didn’t, and the scan said I did. The third said I did and the fourth said I didn’t. From all that information gathered I was going with the Ultrasound results, thank god I got that bit done to conclude it was a problem.
I weighed up my options. I 100% would have paid the £4500 if the issue would definitely be fixed. But I knew from reading the forums sometimes it doesn’t work for people. No gland removed, no fat removed and so on. I couldn’t face paying £4500 and something not working out. I decided to give the surgery a miss, at least for the time being.
The summer ended, it was September and I’d snapped again. I went on holiday with friends around June time and it was awful. I was constantly pinching my nipples for them to not be noticeable around the beach. For those that aren’t aware, pinching your nipples is the equivalent of them being cold, they shrink and go much tighter.
I went to see a fifth doctor, Dr Manu Sood, At Spire Roding Hospital. I thought it would be nice to have the surgery somewhere local and familiar to me. He actually listened to me, he mentioned it was mild but it is there. I completely agreed, it is mild, but it’s a nightmare in the summer when they protrude through t shirts (I always tried to find excuses to wear a jumper)
Just to add, while some doctors were telling me it’s barely noticeable. I’ve had multiple comments over the years saying “your nipples are poking through your top”. After being told by Dr Sood it was £4500 and he can’t promise the results. I decided to have a think about it.
Booking the Surgery
7 months later in April 2016, I thought to myself, I can’t face another summer with this. I desperately wanted to go on a holiday and enjoy myself. I decided to book the surgery without telling my parents. That way they couldn’t talk me out of it. Parting ways with the £4500 over the phone during a shift at work was heartbreaking. I would have felt humiliated if the surgery wasn’t a success.
My surgery was booked in for July 4th 2016; my 21st birthday would be a few days prior. Now I had to tell my parents, I hadn’t spoken to anyone about my Gynecomastia before, I was nervous. I knew if my parents saw me with my nipples cold, they would look at me and think, has he gone mad? I knew if they saw the photos of my nipples when it was warm, the evidence was clear. After walking around in my room for 30 minutes thinking how am I going to tell them, I asked my mum to have a chat for a moment, I showed her the photos on my Laptop and she could see where I was coming from and sympathised. I removed my top and explained when there cold, it nearly looks fine, hence the reason it’s not always an issue and I’ve been able to hide it over the years.
My mum took it very well, which I knew she would. Now I had to figure out the best way to tell my dad, I wasn’t certain how he would react. Luckily for me, my dad’s quite blunt and tells it how it is. He took a 1 second look at the photos and went “yep, something’s wrong there, I’ve never noticed, but something’s wrong” he then went onto say “If you want the surgery mate go for it” but wasn’t very happy I had to pay so much for it.
The day of Surgery
I didn’t tell any friends or co workers, even to this day. I’d booked a week off work and made an excuse. The day of surgery was simple, wait an hour, they draw on your chest, you wake up in your hospital bed and it’s all done. I had to stay overnight as I had drains in.
The next day I took one look at my chest and I was very concerned. It looked very similar to how it was before the surgery. I was convinced the gland had been removed, brilliant, but no Lipo was done. My chest just didn’t look right, a bit too fatty compared to the rest of my body. I began to regret going to my local surgeon, why didn’t I swallow my pride and pay Alex Chambers to fix the issue, she would have done the Lipo.
I went to see Dr Sood a few days post op, after my stitches were removed, I expressed my concerns to him. He mentioned that I had barely any fat there, and explained if I lift my arm above my head and feel my chest, there’s barely any fat at all there. If he removed any fat, my chest could have caved in. It turns out my concern was in fact just a touch of loose skin, he told me to wait it out.
The vest I was provided with wasn’t discrete at all. I purchased a very tight Gynecomastia vest from eBay. The vest was an absolute nightmare to wear, bear in mind, I had surgery on July 4th, It was 20 degrees every day. That being said, I purposely had the surgery in the summer, leading up to the operation, I wanted constant reminders of days in t shirts and how much I hated it.
One week post op the puffiness was back, but this time the lumps in my chest were harder and would protrude even when cold. This was obviously problematic on a summer’s day out with friends, although I wasn’t concerned due to all of the information I’d gathered from this forum.
I went to see Dr Sood 6 weeks post op, he was very happy with the results and stitches, I wasn’t quite convinced. The right side was puffy and there was a hard lump in there, I wasn’t sure if I’d need an injection for scar tissue. Dr Sood told me to wait 6 months, which I knew would be the answer anyway.
I went back 6 months later. I mentioned something wasn’t quite right in the right side and I can feel a hard lump (the left side was perfect). Dr Sood mentioned it could just be a little lump of fat or scar tissue and its way too small for a revision. I thought to myself, fair enough, I’ll forget about it and just crack on with my life. My left side was a 100% improvement, my right was 75%. That was more than good enough for me.
Now very close to a year post op, I have a pea sized lump in my right side, but it looks the exact same as my left. I was surprised; my chest had improved even 6 months on. If I had to rate my results now, I’d say my left side is a 10/10 and my right is a 9/10.
Conclusion
The main reason it took me a while to book the surgery, was parting ways with the money. Now I’ve had it all done, would I do it all again and what would I change? I’m happy I went with Dr Manu Sood, mainly because he actually tried to help me and listened to my concerns. Although I would suggest, be very careful picking your surgeon, make sure they are highly regarded, although Dr Sood is a good doctor, I really did take a punt which could have backfired. On the money side of things, I’d pay £10,000, £15,000; maybe more if that’s what it took, I’m finally living the first summer of my life.
I’ll be coming back on here for 2 weeks or so. If you have any questions please feel free to ask. I would like to leave out the photos; I don’t think it’s necessary and would like to remain anonymous.
Topic: Puffy nipples - My Story from Start to Finish (Read 2119 times)
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