Bilateral Subcutaneous Mastectomies (Gynecomastia)
15/12/2008
Since I was a teenager I have always been very conscious of my chest. I visited a doctor at around age 19 about the amount of fat I had there and was told this would disappear with age. I am now 25. I eat conscientiously and am my ‘ideal weight’. Around 6 months ago, I decided to join a gym to tone up the chest area and rid myself of my male breasts. Weight training was not recommended as this would increase the muscle under the fat and make them look larger. I was told to lose weight. I was already at ‘ideal’ weight according to my doctor, but I began a programme of aerobic exercise. Along with press ups, sit up and a small amount of weight training to tone up, I alternated between an aerobics class, a body pump class and an urban dance class. I aimed for two classes a week, plus the weights and toning, plus my 20 minute walk to work and back each day. I lost fat from my hips and stomach but not from my chest.
I kept this up for a few months, without really seeing a different in the chest area. When exercising, my chest would bounce, which was both embarrassing and painful. I visited my doctor again who told me my stomach was quite hard and my chest quite unnaturally large. I was offered a support group, or told that if I would consider surgery then I could be referred to the breast clinic to discuss my chest. I had visited internet sites about gynecomastia and found the discussion boards at gynecomastia.org to be very informative, offering before and after pictures of chest operations and info about risks and costs. I felt like surgery was a possible option, my psychological sense of body image was unlikely to be fixed by support and I was fed up of the pain and embarrassment of the condition.
I was lucky to get my operation on the NHS. At the breast clinic my chest was scanned and deemed to be heavy with fat. Some patients have oversized glands under their nipples, but mine was fine. I was offered liposuction to remove the fat and told of the potential risks – skin sticking, cavities/bumps in the skin, that my chest might not look equal after the operation. I asked if specific exercises or weight loss would change my chest, and was told that the difference would be very small. I decided to go ahead with the operation.
On the 15th December 2008 I went to surgery. It was a day case operation, which meant I would be in and out of the hospital in the same day. I would have general anesthetic to put me to sleep, and a local anesthetic at the site of the operation. I arrived and changed into my gown. I waited for around 4 hours until my operation. I felt like I would rather have changed into the gown much later in the proceedings, I felt awkward sitting in my gown and slippers for so long.
After three very high speed consultancies with my surgeon, an anesthetist and a man who was considering marking out the operation on my chest in pen (he didn’t need to) I was called to my operation. I was expecting to be taken to a side room/curtained booth, climb into bed, be anesthetized and wake up after the operation. This was not the case.
I was lead directly into the operating theatre. This felt a little intimidating. Around 7 people were in the room, my surgeon Mr Cawthorn, surgeon’s assistants, the anesthetist and medical students. I climbed onto the operating table and was anesthetized there. The experience of climbing onto my own operating table was utterly unpleasant. As I lay back I panicked. The reality of what I was about to do had only just arrived. I thought at that point that I should back out of the operation. This was the wrong point in the whole process to have second thoughts and I would much rather have been allowed a side room or curtained area, perhaps with the person who had accompanied me to the operation.
After the operation, I was given a dose of penicillin in my hand, a bandage and support bandage on my chest and allowed to go home. The following week I spent most of my time in bed and the pain was eased with Codeine, Ibuprofen and Paracetamol. It didn’t hurt.
I am now nearly a month past the operation. I purchased a gynecomastia vest from
http://www.holisticgarmentsdirect.co.uk/ref-1028-gynecomastia-compression-vest-26-p.asp and this has been brilliant. I would recommend anyone undergoing the operation to get one of these BEFORE the surgery, to wear after.
I have begun to carefully exercise, the stitches and glue have come off my nipples, and I am healing well. I don’t regret my operation at all, I already feel that I look more like a man and I hope that when I return to more bouncy exercise that my chest does not ache.
If I was giving advice to anyone going through this surgery, I would say
• Be aware and prepared that you might enter the operating theatre directly. Think seriously about the operation before this point.
• Look at the forums on Gynecomastia.org for support and sharing. Whilst the majority of the posts are for private American surgeons the before and after pictures and stories about experiences are invaluable. However take ‘advice’ from here with a pinch of salt.
• Buy a gynecomastia vest BEFORE the operation. It is invaluable.
Thank you Simon!
Michael
Topic: NHS Surgery UK, Frenchay Hospital Bristol, Dr Cawthorn (Read 3812 times)
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