When is lypo-only a good solution?

[goaliesuperstar]

I am scheduled for surgery in April and my PS told me that he thinks lipo will be enough for my gynecomastia removal (I have quite a minor case). However, he said that after using liposuction he will determine whether I need the excision or not (while i am still under anaesthesia) and perform it immediately after. I know that my surgery is mostly gland, what do you guys think I should do?

Perhaps I should DEMAND that he perform the excision aswell as the lipo no matter what he thinks haha?)

[notanymore]

most all cases require glandular removal at some degree.....and , during the course of surgery, a qualified,experienced gyno ps will determine the proper course of action per individual case.

[Paa_Paw]

It is wise to leave the surgeons options open.

Sometimes even the best surgeons are unsure what they are dealing with until the surgery is well underway.

[Seal]

My surgeon diagnosed me with moderate gynecomastia after my consultation. I had liposuction only and it completely solved the problem including my puffy nipples.  

[dav242]

Now I'm a little confused. I'm hoping (planning) to finally get surgery in the next few weeks after having put it off for the past 3-4 years. Over that time, I've seen four different plastic surgeons (one in california when i used to live there, and three in atlanta) - all board certified in plastic surgery - on separate occassions, and they've all suggested lipo only (granted, these plastic surgeons didn't "specialize" in gynecomastia, but it's been hard for me to find "gynecomastia" specialists in atlanta).

I have a mild case, but I do have some concerns, after reading these posts, that maybe there's more breast tissue (is that the same as "glandular" tissue?) than these doctors have told me and that lipo isn't enough. but, even in pinching my lower chest area, i really don't feel any hard fibrous mass (then again, i'm not exactly an expert in distinguishing breast tissue from fat).

seal - was your case pretty mild and was the fat mainly in the lower part of your chest? also, where did they make the incision for the cannula tube? under your arm or below the chest?

also, how much does "lipo only" geneerally run? i've gotten quotes ranging from $3100 to 4050.

i'm now really concerned, though, that (1) "lipo only" won't fix anything at all for me (even though i've been told that it would) and (2) all the doctors i've seen have been misleading me (at which point this has all sort of been a wash and i'm going to have to start at square one again).

does anyone know if it's possible for guys with "pseudo-gynecomastia" to see good results from "lipo only"?

i also have some concerns that maybe it's a matter of these doctors not being able to tell how much fibrous tissue there is (as a poster mentioned somewhere on these boards) until they actually "look inside" so to speak, at which point it seems as though i'd have to make sure they can do the excision if they find some.

what, by the way, does fibrous glandular tissue feel like? how, for instance, would i differentiate that from the subcutaneous tissue?

this has been pretty frustrating, and so any opinions would be helpful.

[notanymore]

it comes down to this....very simple....

MAKE SURE YOU CHOOSE A SURGEON EXPERIENCED/SPECIALIZING IN GYNO AND PERFORMS PROCEDURES OF EXCISION AND LIPO THAT ARE CASE SPECIFIC.

THE SURGEON CANT TELL FOR SURE TILL HES LOOKIN INSIDE, AND IF HE DOESNT DO EXCISION AND THERES GLAND PRESENT, ITS COMIN BACK OR NOT GOIN AWAY IN THE FIRST PLACE...

gOOD LUCK MAN

[goaliesuperstar]

dav, my surgeon told me that he thought that lipo would be enough for my case. He explained that when performing lipo the gland would shrink considerably and kind of shrink/shrivel into a little ball behind the nipple, if this is the case, he would perform the excision, if not, he will live it as lipo alone.

If I were you, I would ask the surgeon of choice to look out for this and to be open for the possibility of an excision if necessary. Good luck!

[dav242]

hey goalie/notanymore - i really appreciate the advice.

goalie - the stuff about the gland shrinking after lipo is good to know - has this actually happened to anyone here on the discussion boards?

it's strange, though, that none of the doctors i saw mentioned that possibility - should that be a red flag that maybe these doctors aren't the most knowledgeable when it comes to this particular procedure?

i wish i didn't have to continue to look into other doctors - these consult fees are adding up and it's so difficult to find a doctor who's really familiar with these cases.

i've asked all of the doctors i've seen how many gyno cases they've done this a year or within the past few months, and none of them have given me hard numbers or estimates - more often than not, they'll say vague stuff like "oh we see this 'all the time'" or "we get this alot, but i can't say off the top of my head how many"

not very satisfying and it's difficult to figure out who's being honest and who's just "selling" themselves...

also, goalie - if you don't mind my asking, how much was the lipo-only quote that they gave you? do you think the $4000 (surgeon's fee + OR/anesthesia fee) quote i got is too high for something like this?

[Seal]

I could wear non-baggy t-shirts and it wasn't really noticable. However, my left side was a bit larger than the right and it sagged pretty bad. I have pretty good chest muscles so I'm sure that helped too.

There were four holes below my chest. I can't see them anymore since I've been tanning.

[goaliesuperstar]

dav, my PS is specialised in Breast Surgery for women, so this isn't exactly his specialty, he told that he's only performed this surgery once on a man who had a MUCH more severe case than I and that everything went great.

All in all, he seemed very confident that this shouldn't be a very difficult procedure due to my case not being so severe and I guess I'll need to trust him.

The reason I chose him is mainly due to the price (3400$ CDN for everything including the possible excision). Which was quite low compared to the other PS in my region. (Most were around 5K CDN)