Hi guys.
I made a promise on another thread here in this forum that I would post up some information and tips about my experiences in Poland with Katarzyna Ostrowska-Clark. The reason was that this forum helped me have the confidence to do the op and I am grateful for that, so I’m taking the time to contribute something back. Hopefully some of the tips here will help others thinking about doing it.
A lot of people just write about the op itself and how they recovered and looked. So I wanted to write more of a practical guide with tips and tricks that can help people manage the process easier.
So here goes.
My Story
I was an avid gym trainer for around 6 years. I trained naturally for most of it, but stupidly decided to take steroids in the final year. I didn’t need to, my body was in mint condition and healthy, but I just wanted to reach another level. Well I paid the price by getting gynecomastia and suffered with man boobs thereafter for about 4 years. 6 months ago I found this web site and decided to take the plunge in November 2011.
They did gland removal and liposuction. Each gland was around 1cm deep. Around 6cm long. And 3cm wide. They also removed around 300ml of fat from chest. (all in all the volume of mass removed inc glands and fat was about the same volume as a regular can of coke 330ml.).
The surgery itself is clean and modern. Katarzyna is a really cool, smart and switched on lady. You will liaise and meet with Jeremy at first who is the agent for the surgery and is Katarzyna’s partner. When you first meet Jeremy you will think he is a bit of an odd ball, but don’t worry, no matter how odd you think he is initially, he’s a good guy that wants the best for you. Besides, its not him doing the op!
After the first 3 days of the op, my chest looked flat and awesome. I simply loved it. Unfortunately, after around 3 weeks. I’ve got quite a lot of scar tissue built up under the nipple, which effectively makes me look like I’ve still got gynecomastia. Having said that, I’ve read countless reports from others on the internet that its normal, and takes 6 to 12 months for all swelling and deep scar tissue build up to fade away.
Most people said if your chest looked good 2 - 3 days after op (which mine did, it looked perfect!) Than once the swelling and deep scar tissue build up under the skin is gone after 6 to 12 months that’s what you are left with (i hope). I am however training at the gym, since I will keep shape ready for when its all good. I will update again in 6 months, to fill you in on what happened.
I can say, without hesitation that Katarzyna does a great job. liposuction is smooth and sculpted, gland removal is clean and there is minimal damage, Her stitching is brilliant. When I had the stitches removed back home, the nurse couldn’t believe how well I had been sewn up and how good my skin looked for such a short period of recovery (9 days)
Tips, tricks and advise
Scar tissue build up under nipple after op
-as mentioned above, scar tissue can and will build up post op usually occurs 2 – 3 weeks after op and can make you look like you’ve got gynecomastia again even though you haven’t…. That’s a fact since there is no way under the sun the gland can grow back in that time.
- The swelling scar tissue can take up 6 to 12 months to fully go. Be patient. It will be fine.
Liquid build up under nipple
- I had an issue with liquid building up under the nipple after 1 to 2 weeks. Again this also made me look like I had gynecomastia again, I had access to medical syringes and I literally pushed the needle in to my chest, pushing the needle just to the side of the nipple closest to arm pit and sucked the liquid out. Sounds disgusting but it really helped. The needle was about 1 cm from edge of nipple to one side. I pushed the needle approx. 1 to 1.5 cm deep in to chest.
Skin healing and scars from cuts
- In terms of healing the skin, The surgeon will advise you on getting a box of jelonet patches for the nipples under your dressing. YOU MUST BUY THEM, these patches are paraffin based and lubricate the skin around the nipples very effectively. Do not try and use the water based gel patch equivalent (they get sticky and dry after 45 mins and stick to nipple. Not good)
BIO OIL for scar healing
- Do yourself a favour and buy a bottle of BIO OIL, I was applying bio oil before applying the jelonet patch, and this was doing a double whammy for skin moisture and scar healing. Bio oil will help your scar cuts heal quicker and fade quicker. My scarring from cuts around the nipples looks brilliant after only 6 weeks.
Compression bandage
-You need to wear your bandage wrap (provided by surgery) for at least 3 weeks (and more, ideally). Problem is though the bandage is bulky and can be seen through clothing. So providing you wear your bandage wrap 24/7 for the first 2 weeks. You can move on to wearing a compression vest during the day (at work) and then wear the wrap in evening and during night. After 4 weeks you can just wear the compression vest full time. After 6 weeks you are done!!
Compression vest
The best compression vest on the market is one from Macom Medical product code is 2070L This really sorted me right out once I started wearing this, it’s really good compression and you cannot see it, even when wearing a t-shirt. In terms of the size you need to get you should get one slightly smaller than your fit… for e.g. my chest measured 41” so I got the size range in the 36 – 40 to ensure it would give really good hold.
Follow the instructions from surgeon
- don’t get over confident and take your bandage off until you have permission to do so. I took mine off 2 days later (in hotel room) I thought it wouldn’t be a problem. But be warned, you will not have the strength in your chest to wrap the bandage back up yourself. You risk doing damage to yourself, on top of that, when I felt the separation of the skin from the chest, i nearly threw up and passed out, as I was by myself in hotel room, and didn’t know what to expect. It was so horrible how the skin felt like thick paper and I could feel liquid and air bubbles under the skin.... Honestly, i was so freaked out.... SO be warned... don’t do it... and also be prepared for your chest feeling utterly weird and a bit disgusting for some time e after op.
Massaging: do it!!
- Follow the instructions from the surgeon and make sure you do your massaging it is important. Especially in the first 2 – 3 weeks of initial recovery. You really should do it every day for at least 25 mins on each side of chest.
How to make the massaging easier to cope with
- If like me you really hate the feel of your chest and how the skin feels after op (it made me sick). To help with massaging, It really really really helps to lay a towel over your chest and do your massage through the towel. if I hadn’t of worked out that trick, i prob simply wouldn’t have done my massaging as I really didn’t like touching the skin on my chest that much!!! It made me feel sick!
- Another trick is to have a little music set from your ipod / phone whatever, that fits the duration you need to massage, focus on the music and it will help. It does hurt but it is important.
Stay calm and don’t freak out
Your in a weird country in some hotel in some city having an op. At some point after the op you are going to feel the damage on your chest from the op, you are going to feel anxious stressed and possibly panicked… and you are more than likely going to have a WTF? moment. Stay calm and don’t freak out, everything will be fine.
Time off from work
In an ideal world, you should really aim to take two weeks off, the first week is in Poland of course, you will need the second week to recover back home, travelling back from Poland having just had an op is hard on your body. You will be close to feeling ill on your return. You won’t be able to do much except rest.
Paying for the op
- paying for the op itself is a little tricky because, the surgery do not accept card. and who wants to carry over a grand in cash into poland? So the answer is, MAKE SURE YOU HAVE INTERNET BANKING SETUP BEFORE YOU GO... it will be a god send for you. just wire money into bank from internet point and its done... No cash.... no stress.
The hotel ( Atrium)
-Atrium is fine and good. It’s the one they recommend and it does the job well. Heres a few tips from my experience.
- The tvs in the atrium hotel all have usb ports (good for charging phones from etc). that little fact saved my bacon in the first day since I could charge my phone without needing a plug adapter.(which I didnt have).
The Hotel entertainment
- entertainment is non-existent. I was literally going out of my head with boredom; take whatever you can to entertain you for the duration. I took a wii and hooked it up to hotel telly. that was ok, but I wished I took my xbox360 or laptop, as I would have loved to watch dvds and use online video rental stuff. Take a pile of DVDs and buy a cheap dvd player from Carrfour, it is well worth it!!
- Also the atrium hotel HAVE FREE WIFI... They just give you the code for router access (rather than crappy internet portal access).. Which means you can hook all your smartphones / ipads / laptops / xbox etc straight into their internet. Great for Xbox Live!!!
The people are not that friendly
- Most polish i met including the staff of the hotel were not particularly friendly, there seems to be a sense of depression about the area. There were a couple exceptions including the lovely I girl I met at the nightclub !!(see below :-) and one charming girl on reception, everyone else just looked moody and was fairly rude in manner. But don’t be surprised if you are not made to feel too welcome. It’s not personal.
Shops in the area
There is a Carrfour supermarket (Hypermarket actually) 10 minutes walk from hotel. Its got everything and is twice the size of Tesco, so really useful.
There are various other shops and small restaurants near Carrfour as there is a shopping mall. Its not that great, but at least there is something extra near by.
Using Euros in Poland – DON’T DO IT.
Don’t use euros, only use local currency, as local shops rip you off with their own exchange rate if you try and give euros to them. I thought Euro was fully supported but it isn’t.
Clubbing – Girls !!! Caution, only consider if youve had a good recovery and its been at least 3 days since op, and take it easy!
- Because I had my op on a Tuesday, I sneaked out to a nightclub on the sat night before leaving the country. "Coyote Club" was good music reasonable atmosphere nicely decked out. The surgeon would say that’s a stupid idea, but I was stir crazy and needed some fun (and I was very careful). I didn’t drink any alcohol (I stuck to apple juice) I met a couple of nice polish girls, had a really good night. ;-) lol I opened up with a line to them about how bad the polish guys were dancing on the dance floor, they laughed and it opened conversation. Go careful though, you might be talking about their boyfriend!! And be prepared to dance yourself if they like you. as they will drag you up too!! I just about managed to dance but was careful as I could feel some pain in my chest. It was worth it though as the rest of my stay was soooo DULL !!!
- not advisable to go to nightclub unless you’ve had at least 3 days recovery. if you have your op on a Thursday do not even consider going clubbing on the sat night. You will hurt yourself!!!
DO NOT even think about it if you haven’t made a really good recovery or there are problems of any nature. I was lucky as my op and recovery went better than average.
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So that’s it. I hope you find this info useful.
I just want to say thanks to those on this forum who contributed and gave me the confidence to take the plunge. If you don’t feel confident about your chest, and it stops you wearing nice clothes or going to certain places, get the money together and do it. Its worth it.
Topic: Tips, tricks and advice - Katarzyna Ostrowska-Clark - Op Nov 2011 (Read 4099 times)
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