Author Topic: Surgery at the Noa Clinic, Wroclaw, Poland, 23/02/2015 UPDATE revision 03/2017  (Read 52214 times)

Offline Sports Brah

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Hello. Just over a week ago I flew to Wroclaw, Poland to have gyno sugery. I wanted somewhere to post my fairly comprehensive write-up and this place seemed the most appropriate, especially since I feel the Noa Clinic and both Dr. Adam Kaleciński and Dr. Marta Wilczyńska-Staniul haven’t had much in the way of reviews here despite performing this type of procedure very regularly and after my experience I’m happy to recommend it to others, UK residents or otherwise.

I’ll try and avoid making it a chronological spiel of consciousness, and instead break things down into sections. Here we go.

1. Preface - https://www.gynecomastia.org/smf/22/surgery-at-the-noa-clinic-wroclaw-poland-23022015/msg195885/#msg195885

2. Why I Chose The Noa Clinic - https://www.gynecomastia.org/smf/22/surgery-at-the-noa-clinic-wroclaw-poland-23022015/msg195886/#msg195886

3. Travel - https://www.gynecomastia.org/smf/22/surgery-at-the-noa-clinic-wroclaw-poland-23022015/msg195887/#msg195887

4. Accommodation - https://www.gynecomastia.org/smf/22/surgery-at-the-noa-clinic-wroclaw-poland-23022015/msg195888/#msg195888

5. The Surgery - https://www.gynecomastia.org/smf/22/surgery-at-the-noa-clinic-wroclaw-poland-23022015/msg195890/#msg195890

6. Personal Experience - https://www.gynecomastia.org/smf/22/surgery-at-the-noa-clinic-wroclaw-poland-23022015/msg195891/#msg195891

7. Wroclaw - https://www.gynecomastia.org/smf/22/surgery-at-the-noa-clinic-wroclaw-poland-23022015/msg195892/#msg195892

8. Personal Aftercare - https://www.gynecomastia.org/smf/22/surgery-at-the-noa-clinic-wroclaw-poland-23022015/msg195893/#msg195893

9. Costs - https://www.gynecomastia.org/smf/22/surgery-at-the-noa-clinic-wroclaw-poland-23022015/msg195894/#msg195894

10. QnA - https://www.gynecomastia.org/smf/22/surgery-at-the-noa-clinic-wroclaw-poland-23022015/msg195895/#msg195895
« Last Edit: March 13, 2017, 04:47:47 PM by Sports Brah »

Offline Sports Brah

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1. Preface

Around the end of 2014 I made the decision that I would have my gynecomastia surgically removed. The condition had been with me since my teens and although it wasn’t as extreme as many people experience and didn’t negatively affect my life as badly as others I’d read about, it was always stuck in the back of my mind. I didn’t need to go to great lengths to hide it with clothing, at least the size I am now, and I could just about manage to brave things like beaches and pools topless although this was always much easier around strangers or on holiday (even up until recently I was loathe to take my top off in front of anyone that wasn’t my immediate family), and wanting it gone was mixture of vanity - masculine pectoral aesthetics(!) - and plain old self-confidence insofar that I no longer wanted to have to even think about how my chest appeared. I don't sit stressing about other body parts, so why should I have to worry about my chest? Especially when there is something that can be done about it.

As a fat, inactive, nerdy teenager it was one of many things other boys (and girls) made fun of me at school for, so I’d never singled it out specifically in terms of the cause of my self-esteem, or lack of. As I approached becoming 30 though, I was in a very different position physically and mentally – I’d developed a love for the gym (specifically training for strength and physical development as opposed to unstructured, pointless exercise) in the last couple of years, reduced my body-fat greatly and gained some muscle where there was very little before - my physique looked a lot better. However I was more or less lean enough to see my abs, yet still sporting a feminine looking chest and the leaner I got, the more I realized that some other people’s observations on the boards I frequent online were correct – I wasn’t just prone to fat storage in my chest, I had gyno and no amount of dieting would get rid of it. This was a blessing in disguise in a way, since it forced me to reconsider constant dieting and remind myself that at my current height, my weight was (and still is) pretty low and I should be focusing on gaining the good kind of weight.

Having always wanted a masculine set of pecs, I knew surgery was my only option and decided to start researching and to get the ball rolling. I explained this to my family and knowing my penchant for avoiding doing anything without extensive research first, they were very accepting and supportive. My dad agreed to go with me to keep me company rather than me going by myself, which delighted me greatly since he’s spent years moaning about immigration this, Polish that and now he was getting dragged to enemy territory.

Here's the before pics (the night before surgery):












Also here is a vid, as the pics perhaps are slightly forgiving (warning: contains boob squeezing):

https://www.dropbox.com/s/fw683t1igzs71rr/Gyno.MOV?dl=0
« Last Edit: March 04, 2015, 10:22:53 AM by Sports Brah »

Offline Sports Brah

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2. Why I Chose The Noa Clinic

Through browsing many online forums, particularly UK fitness/bodybuilding ones, I noticed that many people were going abroad to get their gyno removed, largely because of the price difference. I considered paying more to get it done here with one of the ‘big 2’ (you know who) at first, but after making a list of for/against and trying to remain objective, going abroad kept ending up as the more attractive option and I couldn’t justify the massive difference in cost and minimal difference in aftercare, especially given gyno surgery really isn’t that big a deal (excluding more severe cases). A passport, boarding pass and saving several thousand pounds, plus the chance to see a new country… it would be a good experience compared to just hopping on the train up to London and paying roughly three times as much for the procedure and coming back the same day.

Thus, I started looking at what options were available in different countries. I ended up picking the Noa Clinic for several reasons.
wwwDOTnoaclinicDOTpl/en/

1) Both Dr. Adam Kaleciński and Dr. Marta Wilczyńska-Staniul perform this procedure almost weekly and deal with a lot of breasts, both male and female. Although Adam owns the clinic, Marta is, in his own words, just as good if not a better surgeon than he is. He might get all the press but she performs just as many operations over a week. When you book your surgery you can request a specific surgeon, but you may find that if your surgery was scheduled for Monday, then Dr. Adam might be free in the afternoon but not the morning and you’d prefer to get it over and done with and end up having Dr. Marta do it. Given this is such a routine procedure for them and they’re both very skilled I don’t think it matters who you get.
2) The clinic had a LOT of reviews and has a Facebook page (Adam Surgeon Poland) where patients can ask each other questions, arrange to socialize when they are there and post their immediate and continued results post-surgery. It also had, and continues to have a large number of celebrity clients from the UK, albeit more D-list than A-list, who were happy to plug the clinic via its YouTube channel.
3) Many bodybuilders and strength athletes had gone there and posted fairly thorough write-ups and results.
4) Wroclaw is a big city and seemed more interesting to visit than the alternatives. It’s a short flight, the airport is near the city and the clinic is on a main road just outside the city. The actual procedure was only a part of the length of the visit, so I wanted to make something of a mini holiday out of it and not camp in a hotel room for 4 days.
5) I’d talked about this clinic being my potential first choice on one of the online forums I go on. Due to stuff happening at work, it took me a while to be able to confirm a date for the surgery and so by the time I booked 2 or 3 months had passed. During that period, two other posters who had the same condition as me had seen my posts and ended up arranging to have surgery there before me. By this point I’d more or less committed to going but it was reassuring to have two people go before me and go through their experience with me. In addition, I found that Dr. Adam is known as far away as Canada and the U.S. with it being a similar saving for members of those countries to fly to Poland as opposed to having it done in their own counties.

Through reading other people’s experiences I knew that the easiest way to sort out the surgery was to go through the Professional Beauty/Europe Surgery websites, which can be found here:
wwwDOTeuropesurgeryDOTukDOTcom
wwwDOTeuropesurgeryDOTcoDOTuk/

Or one can email David (the chap that arranges everything) directly via europesurgery@yahooDOTcoDOTuk (0208 1444254).  He always got back to me whenever I sent an email, and continued to reply even after I’d booked. You can talk to the clinic directly, but it’s much easier and no extra cost to use David.

The whole process was relatively quick and painless – I asked a lot of questions, got a lot of answers, then had to send some photos they could forward onto the surgeon to confirm they’d be happy to carry out the procedure, although you can get a physical consultation in the UK I knew I had gyno and it’s easy to see, so there didn’t seem like any point in doing that.

Upon confirming the surgery, I received a comprehensive confirmation email and had to fill out a form with my flight details, where I was staying, as well as personal/medical information relevant to the surgery/use of anesthetic, which got passed to the surgery.

I paid for the surgery via Bank Transfer (they give you the surgeon’s UK HSBC account number/sort code) the week before surgery so didn’t have to worry about taking a large amount of cash with me. You can also pay in cash, but as said earlier I didn’t fancy drawing that much out.

The day before travelling I hit the gym one last time, then went home and removed all my chest/armpit here quite thoroughly, since I knew I’d have dressings and tape stuck to me and it’d be less painful if there was no hair to rip. Also less stuff to trap sweat and given it’s recommended to not shower until 2 days after the operation…

Offline Sports Brah

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3. Travel

I flew with Ryan Air from Stanstead (a horrible airport), which is about 45mins-1hr drive away from where I live (Orpington, SE London). There are two flights a day from London to Wroclaw (and vice versa) on odd days of the week – one morning and one evening - and only one on the even ones (morning only). We decided to fly out on the evening flight on Sunday 22nd February (8:30pm) and then catch the evening flight back to England on Wednesday the 25th (which was around 6:30pm).

We found a chap via the MoneySavingExpert site who for £5 a day lets you park your car on his drive near to the airport, then for a £2 charge (which is what the airport charges drivers for a car coming into to drop off/pick up people) ferries you to and from the airport.

One thing we did to speed things up was only take hand luggage and not take cases. Remember if you do this to make sure all your liquids are under 100ml and fit in a small clear plastic bag. I took only the bare minimum of clothing required – enough for 3 days as one of them would be spend in the clinic – and favoured loose-fitting casual wear as post-surgery I’d need them to fit over the gyno-vest and didn’t want to have to put anything on that needed my arms to go over my head. Once again, it's probably a good idea to wear button-up v.s. pull-over-your-head stuff and to wear anything you have that's a little on the big side in order for it to fit over the binder.

The flights were uneventful (bar an hour delay on the way out) and took around 100 minutes each way if I remember correctly. Wroclaw’s airport was built quite recently and was the polar opposite of Stanstead – peaceful, quite, spacious and clean, with only a couple of flights departing an hour.

Upon arrival we were greeted at the Arrivals exit by the cab driver Chris, who was also picking up another couple from the UK. As part of the surgery you get this cab ride to your accommodation free. He dropped off the first couple then took us to where we were staying. We were within walking distance of the clinic so didn’t need picking up the next day. At this point, due to Poland being an hour ahead it was around 12:30am.

On my last day, I saw Chris at the clinic and arranged a place/time for him to pick us up and got a price, which handily got rid of all my remaining Zloty (which included a tip). After he’d left the clinic we actually changed our mind about when we wanted picking up and the guy at the desk instantly rang him for us in to make the change. Very helpful!

Here's a couple of shots of Wroclaw Airport (from when we left), including the recliners in the departures bit, looking out onto the runway where you can chill out.



« Last Edit: March 03, 2015, 02:05:09 PM by Sports Brah »

Offline Sports Brah

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4. Accommodation


We decided to stay at the Solo Hotel (be sure if you use this to ask for the Plus/+ rooms, which have kettles etc.) for several reasons.
1) It was only a 10 minute walk to the clinic and the Magnolia Shopping Centre, all of which is in a straight line so it was impossible to get lost.
2) Due to the length of my stay (check-in and sleep, spend all Monday in the clinic, get discharged and do stuff Tuesday, check-up at the clinic, check-out the hotel then go and fly home) staying somewhere more expensive and with more stuff to do seemed unnecessary. We mainly just needed beds to sleep in and tea/coffee. On arrival we found two cups, with two coffees, two teas, two powdered milks and two bottles of water (one sparkling, one still) – these were replaced daily, although we ended up buying our own from the Tesco’s as one each wasn’t enough.
3) It was cheap – 495ZL for Sunday night through to Wednesday morning, so about £87



I arranged the booking through their email address, which is solo@hotels24DOTcomDOTpl - once again, if you stay here, ask specifically for the Plus rooms.

The room itself was entirely sufficient for what we needed – beds, a kettle, bathroom with heated towel rails (towels, soap etc. were provided), adjustable lighting/heating. You get given a card with a chip in which you use to enter your room and once inside place in the holder by the door in order to use the light switches and so on. The card also had the Wi-Fi password on. The signal tended to work most of the time but we had a few instances where it dropped off now and then for periods of time. I took earplugs, as I knew in advance the room is by the main road. Traffic in Wroclaw tends to die down at night but it’s the trams that are noisy and run late.  I didn’t eat their buffet breakfast so can’t comment on that (it’s an extra few zloty a day).

We had to check-out by 12pm on the Wednesday, so after going to the clinic by myself for my final discharge I came back to have a coffee then we checked out and got a tram to near the square in the middle of the city, had some food then hung around and people watched for an hour or so before Chris took us to the airport and we killed another couple of hours before the flight.

Speaking of the trams, we used these in order to go to the city proper and get back to the hotel. The ticket machines have an English language option and are easy to use. We didn’t work out if the tickets we got covered more than one journey but they were around 3-4 zloty – you simply got on a tram and put the ticket (barcode face-up) into the scanner, it made a noise and you were set. I believe the trams that go past the clinic were the 3, 10 and 33, although more may have gone past it. There are stops at roughly ½ mile intervals and ones in front of the Solo as well as the clinic/shopping centre and are a cheaper alternative than using cabs all the time. They’re also a bit bumpy so either sit or find something to lean on when you board.
« Last Edit: March 03, 2015, 02:07:31 PM by Sports Brah »

Offline Sports Brah

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5. The Surgery

I set my alarm (making sure I’d switched to Polish time) to wake me for 7am, grabbed everything I’d need to take to the clinic then left around 7:40am to walk up the road to it. The clinic itself is on the 1st floor of a shared building; you simply go in, take the lift or stairs and walk along a corridor where you come to an opaque door/window with Noa Clinic on. As instructed, I was nil-by-mouth and the last time I’d eaten was the night before on the plane and I’d had a bottle of water on arrival at the hotel.




Once there they took my coat, and I handed over the £20 in GBP for my blood test and had to fill out some forms, as well as one covering my state of mind/confidence/body image etc. I got their Wi-Fi password too. I was then asked to put some slipper things over my trainers and go for my blood test.

The blood test nurse was a jolly lady who sat me down, uttered a memorable “Ah! Big vein!” (the joys of being vascular) then without any fuss took my blood and patched me up in the space of about a minute. Job done.





After that, I had to go and sit and talk to Dr. Adam’s sister, who is the psychologist at the clinic, just to go over the form I’d filled out and presumably check that I wasn’t either insane, freaking out, or having the surgery for stupid reasons. She was a bit of a strange fruit, but it was over quickly enough.

I then sat with both surgeons, removed my shirt and they inspected my chest, explained the procedure and some other stuff such as the fact that because I’d dieted down and was pretty lean, they wouldn’t need to do much lipo, just gland removal, that I wouldn’t wake up flat-chested due to the structure of my chest itself (hooray, I have some pectoral muscle) and I obviously had to sign the final forms consenting to be operated on, that I understood the risks etc.

After this I said goodbye to my dad, and was taken to my ward where I was given the giant paper towel gown and paper slippers to change into, at least once I’d gone down the corridor to have a shower in the bathroom. There were two beds but I was told I’d be by myself, and I was then left to hang my clothes up and put my phone/tablet in a drawer. I spend around 10 minutes alone, then Dr, Marta came in and asked me to pull gown down and do a pose not unlike a lat spread where you flare the elbows and tense the pecs so the pen lines could be drawn on my chest. She explained a bit more about the operation and then left me to my own devices.






Dr. Adam then came in and I was told I could be the first operation of the day if that was okay with me. Not wanting to spend hours waiting about I agreed! I was lead into the operating room where I was introduced to the anesthetist and told to sit on the operating table and take my gown off. My modesty was then quickly preserved and lower body covered, although I recall having cold feet (literally) as my toes were sticking out of the bottom, and once I was laid in the correct position the catheter went into my arm, which was probably the least pleasant feeling I had the entire time. The antiseptic fluid (which looks like dark syrup) was poured on my chest and spread about, which was an interesting sensation and at this point it really hit me that I was about to be operated on, although I was still rather serene about it all. The oxygen mask was placed on me and I took two deep breaths, and just as I started to wonder when they’d tell me to count to 10 or that I was about to go to sleep... that was it, I was gone.

That was my first time being under a general anesthetic, as it goes. Waking up back in my room, it felt like no time had passed and I’d just had a very deep sleep, albeit waking to find you’re being squeezed by a big white Velcro belt/binder thing and covered in what looks liked dried ketchup. One of the operating assistants was there to greet me and then the surgeon came in to tell me everything had gone as expected and was successful. I was then left to my own devices, although if I needed anything there was a big red button with a nurse symbol on next to my bed I could press.

Gyno-free!



It was around 12:30-1pm at this point and I felt fine. The hours blurred a bit – I abused the (fast, solidly connected) wireless they had and was brought a glass of water every couple of hours. I didn’t have a dry mouth or trouble swallowing… in fact I was really hungry already and complained about this to my mum over FaceTime when I let her know I was okay.

At around 4pm a nurse (I think it was the lovely Marta) came in and told me she’d be looking after me for the night. She asked how I felt (great), if I was in much pain (only a dull ache from the catheter) and if I thought I’d be okay to eat something and drink more water (yes!). I think she was expecting me to be more worse for wear than I was – I’ve read a lot of people’s surgery experiences where they’re groggy after surgery and slip in and out of sleep during the hours afterwards… I felt absolutely fine and raring to go. Around 4:30pm I finally I got to have the infamous ham and cheese open sandwiches (3 slices of each) and a cup of tea (I drank the rest of the milk I didn’t put in the tea and used the sugars, even though I never have tea with sugar, just because I wanted the energy/calories). She found my foreknowledge and anticipation of these famous sandwiches hilarious, and after having nothing to eat all day I had to avoid eating it all too quickly and savour each bite. Around 6pm the normal visiting hours started, so my dad returned to see me for a bit, although we ran out of things to talk about, so I told him to go and get some dinner as I was fine.



After spending all day in bed I needed to stretch my legs, so put my underwear on and walked in circles a bit, then nipped down the corridor to have a pee as I didn’t feel like I needed any assistance. A while later the nurse came back with some painkillers, which I took even though I wasn’t in any pain, and more water. More time passed until about 9:30pm when the nurse came in to change my dressings (bloody!) and give me a sleeping pill. I craned my neck a bit to look at my chest but couldn’t see much so just let her do her things, then turned out the lights and tried to get some shut-eye. I woke around 4am although didn’t feel particularly weary, read the Metro on the iPad than at around 5am the nurse came into to change my dressings again (less bloody!) and give me more pills. At around 6am I got brought another 2 slices of bread/ham/cheese and the tea/milk/sugar. These were gratefully wolfed down. More waiting. More peeing, which smelt very weird. At this point I had to keep telling myself that it was nearly over, as being bed-ridden for this amount of time gets boring fast, even with the internet, books and music. The surgeons popped their heads in to check up on me. They were a bit concerned that because my torso was a v-shape (hooray, I have lats), the binder/wrap would keep slipping down so thought I should get the gyno vest fitted that morning. I was told I could get dressed and come through to the room where you get checked up by more nurses and be fitted with the vest.

Unfortunately, they then found they didn’t have any in my size, so we kept with the binder (did it up again extra tight, urgh) and since they were happy with how things were looking, I was discharged and told to come back the next morning at 10am. All a bit anti-climatic really, although I suppose as big a deal as it is for you, for them you’re just one of the many that pass through the doors.



On the Wednesday morning I had until 12pm to check out of the hotel, so walked to the clinic and saw one of the nurses (alas, not Marta, who I would have thanked more profusely for looking after me if I’d have known she wouldn’t be about) who changed my dressings again (no blood!) and let me look at how things were. As expected, my chest looked the same overall, except my nipples no longer sat on peaky hills of glandular tissue – they looked like they were part of the surface of my chest like… a normal person. Nice. Bruising and swelling were minimal and although I didn’t take any pictures, my chest looked the best it has so far and hopefully how it will finish looking like once the healing process is over.

I got told they’d had a delivery of vets and could fit me up… however being industrious, when I’d gone to the mall on Tuesday to have some lunch/coffee, I’d used the Starbucks Wi-Fi to go to the MACOM site, talk to someone there to get sized up properly and ordered a pair of vests with next-day delivery so they’d be at home for when I returned. They were understanding of this and didn’t mind (the vests were £50, the clinic charges £60 so £10 profit isn’t much compared to how much the make from the surgery). I was told to buy some dressings, tape and antiseptic spray when I was back in the UK to use for around a week after surgery just to be on the safe side, which I have done.

I then asked the nurse and the guy on the front desk to thank everyone who’d looked after me – I never got to see Dr. Adam or Dr. Marta again, which was kind of sad but they were both in theatre doing what they do. I got my discharge note and was asked to keep them updated with healing/recovery etc. I left the Noa Clinic for the last time!
« Last Edit: March 03, 2015, 05:46:33 PM by Sports Brah »

Offline Sports Brah

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6. Personal Experience



At no point did I really feel nervous or apprehensive – everything happened quite quickly and bar feeling a bit emotional upon waking from surgery, the occasion never really overwhelmed me. I think because my gyno hasn’t been the bane of my life and more of an annoyance, I didn’t have tons of hopes/expectations riding on it. I’m in control of my body fat, my training, lean mass I can put on… but gyno isn’t something you can do much about (at least if it’s well and truly set in) so it was a fairly logical decision to get it sorted by someone that could help!

Pain has been (surprisingly?) minimal. I only had incisions under my nipples (which seem pretty tidily done) which feeling returned to pretty quickly, no secondary ones and I didn’t need drains that I’m aware of, which I think must contribute to the fact my mobility doesn’t feel particularly restricted. My chest is still somewhat tender if pressed, but the wearing the vest doesn’t cause my any pain (although it has rubbed under my armpits a bit). I’d like to think my healing process shouldn’t be very complicated – I just need to rest and after 4 weeks start training again and keep the vest on 24/7 for the recommended 6 weeks, and perhaps another 2 weeks just wearing it during the day. After 4-5 days the bruising and swelling started coming out more and I’ve taken ‘day 5’ pics of my nipples and will probably do more on day 10. My thought process at present is to essentially forget about it for a while, just wear the vest and check things out once it’s all healed. I know how it looked on the Tuesday/Wednesday so there’s no point fretting about how things look while swelling/bruising is at it’s worst.

Here's a couple of pics after 5 days. I do bruise VERY easily.




The tape in particular is a nuisance as now my chest hair is growing back it sticks to it, hence a lot of the redness. The anti-septic spray I bought stains my chest a bit yellow too, but day by day things will get better.

Offline Sports Brah

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7. Wroclaw

Wroclaw has a typical European city feel – lots of blocks of flats and although some parts of it seem a little grimy and run down (you only have to look at it’s history in the last 100 years), it feels safe to walk around, the streets are devoid of rubbish and there are a lot of people walking around at any one time. It seems to be in a state of rapid regeneration at the moment, with lots of new buildings springing up and the old ones being given licks of colour. The shops are a mix of Polish ones and many familiar faces, particularly in Magnolia Park Mall which had a TK Maxx, Tesco’s and so on. There are a lot of hotels in the city centre which many people stay in, such as the Puro, Art Hotel and so on, so if you were staying for more than a few days it would definitely be a better idea to camp in the middle rather than out of town like we did. I’m not sure what else there is to do other than walk about and eat though! There is free city Wi-Fi around the main squares as well which is very helpful when you’re checking for directions or places to eat.














Speaking of food and drink, these are dirt cheap with exception of going to places like Starbucks or other global-brand establishments, which aren’t priced too differently from elsewhere in the world. If you’re going to get coffees, eat lunches and dinners and so on, you get far more for your money going to the Polish establishments.

I spent most of my Zloty on tram fares, coffees/snacks and paying Chris for the ride to the Airport. Meals out were paid for on credit card.

I looked at Trip Advisor a fair bit during my stay to choose some places to eat as there’s a LOT of choice, and the best places aren’t necessarily the ones in the main square, although these are the most likely to have English menus.

On the Tuesday I wanted a pig-out after being deprived of food most of Monday, and wanting to try some Polish food, so we went to one of the better reviewed Polish joints, a place called Kurna Chata - and gorged on beef goulash in bread bowls, pierogi and pork loin with fried potato pancakes. Polish food is good! I’m not sure what it came to eventually as I haven’t got the card bill yet, but I’m guessing it’ll be cheap for the amount of food. The actual restaurant had slow service (bar how quickly they wanted orders) and a laid back atmosphere, but that was fine as eating all that took time!










On the Wednesday afternoon we wanted something to keep us going till we got back to England, so what better than a gourmet burger! Burger Ltd is tiny, but not too far from the squares, and for what I think converted to £8.70(!) we got two coffees, two burgers and two fries. I had the Tower burger, my dad had the Bacon burger. Very good!








Seriously though, just check TripAdvisor out for Wroclaw! Lots of choice.

Offline Sports Brah

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8. MACOM Vests & Dressings

I got my mum to purchase some spray, dressings and tape from Boots for when I got back to keep covering my nips. This was around £25, although I didn’t really need 4 packs of dressings (3 would have sufficed) so overspent, but it’s a drop in the ocean. They’re probably unnecessary as the incisions are closed but I guess it’ll stop the vest material rubbing on them for a week or so, thus keeping the vests spotless.



The vests were ordered from MACOM directly, specifically these ones in the flesh/beige colour
wwwDOTmacom-medicalDOTcom/products/gynaefix-vest/22?c=7

I got two so I could wash one/wear the other and not have to wear that awful binder thing. My intention is to sell these on once I’ve finished with them, so if you’re going to get surgery in the near future and want a spare vest, do ask!




The idea of wearing this thing full time for many more weeks isn’t filling me with joy, but it’s a necessary evil and will help with healing. I haven’t had any problems sleeping with it on as it’s not massively uncomfortable and I usually sleep on my back anyway. My intention at this point is to wear it 24/7 for 6 weeks, then perhaps 2 weeks only during the day.

Offline Sports Brah

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9. Costs

Car parking - £24 (£5 a day for 4 days, plus £2 drop-off and pick-up either end of the journey)
Flights - £122.36
Surgery - £1400 (paid via Bank Transfer)
Blood Test - £20 (paid in GBP cash)
Accommodation – 4 nights at the Solo (Plus room, paid on card) - £87
Cash converted to Zloty - £40
Other stuff paid for on card (meals out for two etc) - £75
Some extra dressings, antiseptic spray and tape for my first week back home - £24
x2 Macom vests - £104.79 (incl. delivery)

Total = £1897.15

Hopefully I can knock a few quid back off by selling the vests once I'm done with them.

Couple of Panoramic shots of the squares too for good measure:

« Last Edit: April 29, 2015, 08:53:42 AM by Sports Brah »

Offline Sports Brah

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10. QnA

I guess this one will be a placeholder to keep any questions that crop up frequently (if there are many questions...) so people don't have to search the thread.

 :)

2 weeks post surgery - https://www.gynecomastia.org/smf/22/surgery-at-the-noa-clinic-wroclaw-poland-23022015/msg196061/#msg196061
3 weeks post surgery -

As a final note, travelling to somewhere like Poland really isn't a big deal. It seemed like a big deal beforehand, but having gone through it was really very easy and straightforward! The most stressful part was looking up the airline rules and regs as far as hand luggage size, weight, liquids, what you can/can't take and so on. After that was sorted the rest was a breeze.

----

I'm going to add a bit here actually. This is what Iooked like a couple of years ago when
a) I'd never done any resistance/strength training in my life. I had some cardiovascular endurance from jogging/cycling, but that was about it
b) I was clearly overweight




Improving your body composition makes a LOT of difference, as you can see. Not just in terms of reduced body fat and increased lean mass, but hormonally. I got my education from Andy Morgan of RippedBody.jp who taught me all about tracking macros and flexible dieting, so now I always feel in control in terms of dieting without losing muscle, and gaining lean mass without getting fat quickly. My bodyweight isn't massively different in these pictures and the ones at the top - it's all about what your weight is made up of.

But yeah - for the sake of your health, and to make the surgeon's life easier (and I'd wager a quicker recovery) - lift, get lean, read lots of Alan Aragon, Lyle McDonald, Eric Helms etc. You'll thank yourself for it.

That said, it only reduced the gyno and didn't get rid of it completely.
« Last Edit: March 17, 2015, 01:28:11 PM by Sports Brah »

hammer

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Thanks for all the pictures! Poland is the homeland of my greatgrandfather on my fathers side, and eventhough I've been all over Europe, I've never been there or Germany my mothers side!

Good luck on your recovery!


Bob

Offline scotty1986

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Excellent write up mate and option for others who are thinking of going there.

Offline Sports Brah

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Thanks.

As I said at the start, I think on this particular board the Noa Clinic is woefully underrepresented for some reason. I know Levick and Karidis (who is only a short commute away) do good work, but I couldn't come up with enough reasons why I should pay nearly £5k for what is essentially a very simple procedure for a cosmetic surgeon that does a lot of boobs. For under £2k I still got operated on by someone who does a LOT of gyno ops in a very busy, modern clinic that was mostly full of English people. It just happened to be in Poland! Wroclaw isn't the middle of nowhere either (it's one of the designated European Capital of Culture cities for 2016).

Aftercare gets brought up a lot, but my thought process was...
Karidis - you get operated on and you're out the same day, any problems you come back.
Noa Clini - you get operated on and checked up later that day, the next morning and the morning after that. Any problems that manifest themselves would probably occur during that period anyway, except ones caused by stupidity (like going and exercising straight away after the op), so if you're fine to be discharged and follow their instructions, you're very unlikely to have any further issues.

Offline Sports Brah

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OK, so 2 weeks since surgery as of yesterday. Bruising has gone down significantly and the scabs are starting to fall off from the incisions (lovely), although everything still feels pretty swollen and hard under/around the nipples (which look pretty 'squashed' still). Vest leaving lots of marks and causing some irritation but hey, it looks a lot better than it did and I was prepared for this mentally. When going to work I found the vest tends to rub a little so I've been wearing fitted vest or gym shirt under it to provide some protection. Also makes it a little tighter which can't hurt.

Hopefully won't take too long to return to normal.






Pics from yesterday. No anabolic lighting this time!
« Last Edit: March 10, 2015, 07:36:13 PM by Sports Brah »


 

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