Another one has 'made the call'

[MRD]

Hey guys. After a very long time of researching gynecomastia and the surgery, I have finally decided to call Dr. Fielding's office and booked a consultation for February 9th. I felt very anxious about making this call, but i didn't let anxiety get in the way of me getting this problem fixed.

The main problem for me was working at the same time as going to school (im 19 and in university) and paying off my student loan. So it wasn't easy to save up the cash for me. At first i thought this problem would go away by the time i turned 18 or so. But 19 now and no improvement
It was very frustrating for me because i have always been in good shape and worked out and trained everyday, had my body in very good shape, but the oversized nipple/breast area always put me down. Because of this i stopped working out and put on weight...but starting to exercise again now that surgery is a step closer and a step closer to getting rid of this problem. Or at least fixing it significantly. I dont expect perfection, "fix, not a cure" as Bambu says.

I am curious to know what happens at the consultation appointment, for those that have had it with Dr. Fielding. What can i expect from it? What kind of questions should i ask? I am thinking of asking about Fielding's surgery revision policy, incase there is no improvement after the surgery. Any ideas for good questions i can ask?

I am a little worried about the surgery. I have heard a lot of horror stories from ''basic'' surgeries, especially plastic surgeries involving liposuction. Also what about anasthesia? If it is a general anasthesia and i am put to sleep is there anasthesia specialists present during the operation? I think this is very important.
If you guys are curious in seeing one of these ''horror stories'' i have mentioned, here is a link to one of them...its horrible, and its from a simple liposuction. Although i think liposuction involved in gynecomastia surgery isnt as demanding. Here it is  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vbCTCA8kDA

And last but not least, here are some of my gyne pictures...i dont think it is severa at all but severe enough for me to make me self conscious about it.

http://img63.imageshack.us/img63/6852/gyne1gb8.jpg

http://img63.imageshack.us/img63/4639/gyne2dt3.jpg

Thats all for now, thanks for reading.

[Grandpa Bambu]

Congrats on making the 'Call' dude...

Friday Feb. 9th? Are you sure on that? JFC usually sees his consults on Mondays.

When you go to see Dr. Fielding (the first appointment), Leslie will give you a Medical History form to fill out. Then you and 'The Man' will go into a tiny room for your examination. Basically, he will have a look at your chest and then answer any questions about surgery that you might have. Questions such as.... Revision (if needed), and if the anesthesiologist will be present for the entire procedure as you mentioned. Actually, you prolly already know as much as you need to know about surgery from this Site. The second appointment will be about a month after your consult. During this visit, you will pay for the Lipo portion of the procedure and will get a list of surgery do's and dont's. If you smoke, plan on not smoking for a month prior to surgery.

As for the 'Horror Stories'.... Don't worry about the ' what if's... ' dude. Surgery is a gamble, but then so is Life. You step off the curb into the roadway and take the risk of getting hit by a car. You ride in an airplane and you take the risk of it crashing. Life is full of 'calculated' risks. Sure there is a possibility that something could go wrong when you are out cold under the general. However the chances of anything adverse happening are very slim. You have to ask yourself what is worse, living the rest of your live with gynecomastia, or taking the slight risk of a serious complication.

Anyways...  Congrats again on making the 'Call' my man. Let us know how the consult goes...

GB

[MRD]

Yes i am sure its for feb. 9th. But i will call tommorow just to make sure. Is it possible to do the surgery without being fully put to sleep? Just being comfortably numb would be good enough for me because i always feel uneasy about being put to sleep under general anasthesia...always get the feelin that there will be some accident and i wont wake up.

I posted a picture in my first post, how bad would you say my gyne is on a 1 to 10 scale? I dont think its that bad but i still have that puffed out look around the areolas. Hopefully excision and minor lipo will take care of that.

[Grandpa Bambu]

I'm not sure if JCF will do the procedure with just a 'local'. Call Leslie and ask dude. Or ask the Man himself at your consult.

On a scale of 1-10.... well lets just say that your case warrants GRS. I don't like to rate gyne as even if it is lets say a '4' in my eyes, it may be a '10' to you. Know what I mean dude.

GB

[MRD]

Ah ok i get what you are saying

[MRD]

But what is a GRS?

[Grandpa Bambu]

'GRS'....   Gynecomastic Reduction Surgery. 

GB

[marx]

I would highly recommend you meet 2 or 3 surgeons before you make your decision.  You shouldn't base all your research on what you read on the internet.  For example, I meet a celebrity type surgeon, whose website said he did gynecomastia.  He turned out to be somewhat of a jerk, made fun of some of his patient's problems and I found he wasn't even a plastic surgeon - he was a throat specialist!  He had a clinic doing plastic surgery (mostly boob jobs) and had a reputation from his appearances on tv programs.  I found Fielding's clinic not very helpful to reschedule an appointment and this was too important to me to be treated like sh$# by his office.  I chose Lista because for a number of reasons, such as PAL technique and I felt comfortable with him.   

[MRD]

Thanks for your input and suggestion. If i could afford the trip to Virginia and the 6000-7000$ Dr. Bermant charges i would choose him, as i think from the information i have gathered that he is one of the most experienced in gynecomastia removal. But im a student struggling to pay off student loan, so i cant afford it. I live in Toronto, best surgeons in this city, (and most credited on this site) i believe are Fielding and Lista. Lista charges over 5000 so once again I cant afford. Fielding charges something just over 1000 - 1500. Fielding is very credited on this site, so I trust him.

However if the operation does not satisfy me, I'm hoping it will at least fix my condition to a better level so that i will be LESS self conscious. And if i am not satisfied I can save up my money and then go with someone like Dr. Bermant to fix things up.

[marx]

I have only heard satisfied patients with Fielding.  He certainly is much cheaper and reasonable than Lista.  I was worried about potentially obvious scars around nipple, but instead I have bright red incision marks with Lista's PAL technique.  I hope they fade over time.   

[MRD]

Yeah things like scarring do fade over time, fortunately. Also isnt there some products that help with making scars heal? Im sure theres some.

Also an interesting point i have to bring up is from these boards I have noticed that there are a lot more Fielding success stories and more dissatisfied guys from Lista. I find this confusing because the price is so much higher with Lista plus this new technique which is supposedly better, I thought there would be a lot more Lista success stories. However after thinking about it, maybe it's because his technique is still new and he's not perfected it yet? While Fielding's technique is more 'old school' and maybe hes had a lot of patients to practice it on.

[marx]

You have a good point.  I am happy with what I did, but I may have been just have happy with Fielding's results.  Plus I'd be a few grand richer  !  I am just happy to get the procedure done with, I can wear whatever I want now, I am less self-conscious and the healing is in time's hands now.  The only think I'd be self-conscious about is being exposed because of my incision scars.  If I wentr with Fielding, maybe I'd be self-conscious about the nipple scars  ?  Anyway, it's over and my opinion is money invested in yourself into something like this is secondary.  You'll live with the benefits for the rest of your life.