Author Topic: Rebirth  (Read 2381 times)

Offline Ryuuk

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I mean, essentially it is. In nine days I will be born again, free to enjoy life like every other person. It's a shame that it cost me $11,000AUD (about   $7,5000 for you American folk) to get this off my chest, but it's taken so much from me and it would be a shame to let it take any more.

I've been lurking around here for some time now, I only registered a few months ago but never got around to making my big initial introductory post and if I don't make it now I never will.

It feels like an AA meeting :P. I'm 19, from Australia and I have suffered from Gynecomastia for 10 years now. My first memory is of course an incident of shame, and it occurred in grade four swimming practice, when I was 9.

Throughout primary school and high school I was always a little overweight, a chubby kid but I had good friends and was quite popular and I never really had many incidents where my gyno caused me trouble, I hid it very well despite having fairly large breasts and nipples. However hiding it meant always wearing a jumper or just not going outside, I wore my school jumper even in the sweltering Australian summers but I got away with it with snappy humor and wit.

In grade 10 I learned about Klinefelter's syndrome and it's symptoms in biology. Being a late (LAATE) developer this troubled me greatly, especially the breasts part. At that age I used to ask my mother, crying some times, about why I was the way I was, of course she never saw the full fury that was my chest, but she knew i was chubby and prepubescent. She insisted that my whole family were late developers and that I was fine.

I finished high school, started University and over my first year, puberty hit me in FULL FORCE and the majority over a 6 month period. I grew tall, lost all my weight, got hairy legs, arms and all those other great places - luckily I'm still not that hairy.

So I emerged happy and surprisingly handsome, yet being fairly slim and about 70 KG at that stage I still had these breasts!

I began starving myself at the beginning of this year to get rid of them and now have an "eating disorder", much of my life is spent worrying about calories and what I put in my mouth. However people just don't understand that when you spend all night praying to god that you will be skinny and one day get the attention that all the other guys get that its hard to eat, knowing just how easy you could become fat again and be living in hell.

So I'm now pretty out of shape, pretty skinny, 58KG (130 pounds i think) and I have some fat on my chest, but large nipples, a lot of gland and some left over skin.

In June this year I reached my all time low, dropped out of university because i couldn't study with depression, I was going to starve myself to death. Then when my family got so worried they couldn't bare it anymore then came to me and I opened up to them, they understood completely and we went to the GP.

GP Tested me for Klinefelters despite only have one symptom, and tested my testosterone. I was negative for Klinefelters and my testosterone was completely normal. 16 or something.

She sent me to the best (most expensive aswell) cosmetic surgeon in Brisbane for my gyn. The referral date was sept 2008, 4 months from then.

In September he assessed me, scheduled me for a "Bilateral breast reduction, periareolar". He was a nice man, very obvious he was extremely proud of his work and his reputation and I have faith in him. He has all the qualifications of a great surgeon (His name is Dr Scott Ingram, google him if you like :P) and my GP even told me he has been doing hand transplants in America! My surgery date was set for July this year.

But I couldn't wait that long, If i were to get it done now, privately it would only cost me $6000 more. Would $6000 be worth 6 months of my life? (Yes I feel like having gyn means I have no life worth living.)

I talked to dad, he agreed with me. He is funding $5000 and I got a $6000 loan. My surgery was reset for 28th January - to my surprise, so close!

So I sit here wondering what I am going to say to Dr Ingram on the 28th, I am fairly skinny, do i tell him to get rid of all the fat to suit the rest of my body? Do I make sure he removes ALL the gyn? Will my nipples collapse if he does?

 If my nipples are quite large and he is resizing them but cutting them out like a donut or something, will my scaring be horrible? Will I even be able to take my shirt off comfortably afterwards? I also don't understand how a 3 to 9 o'clock cut under my nipple will make it look normal when there is also excess areola above my nipple :/.

Will he already have a plan? Do I even have a say?

I feel like I should have seen him more, I saw him once at a 45min referral, this is LIFE changing for me, but him him it just seems like something he does every day. Do I talk to him for long when he is lining me and planning? Is that the crunch point?

I'm sorry if this sounded scattered, I'm just typing out what's on my mind.

Thanks for reading guys :]

Oh and Pictures!

I swear they are usually bigger baby, I'm just a lil cold.

Oh and my hair is bad, it's 4 am here.







« Last Edit: January 18, 2009, 01:29:37 PM by Ryuuk »

Offline minnhelp

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Man, you got lots goin on... Even beyond gyne n such. You probably won't agree when I say all the insecurities are and will diccipate as time goes by but you should be happy that you are trying to handle all these issues head on. I didn't have enough courage when I was your age.
But, no matter how no so perfect your chest is gonna look, it will still be so much better and you will appreciate new you in time. As i am right now only 2 weeks post op.

You should tell your doc to not just resize nipple but also to contour your chest to match your physique as best as he can, whether it means just the gland removal or if there is fat there... to me it looks like you got mostly gland but hey i aint no doc....

Good luck man.. wish you the good and healthy recovery as well....

Offline Ryuuk

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It isn't about what I think at all, if it were I would be saving my money.

This is about how others judge me.

I guess your saying my nipple are always going to look like shit regardless, I was afraid of that.

Edit: Is it too late to even tell him what I want, as I said, I saw him for one referral and my surgery is next Wednesday. I feel like he already has whats planned planned and if i tell him i want my chest contoured he will say sorry I've already quoted you and you've paid for what I've planned to do to you.
« Last Edit: January 22, 2009, 10:23:57 PM by Ryuuk »

Offline Grandpa Bambu

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  • 31 Year Gynecomastia Victim...
So... how did your surgery go dude?

GB
Surgery: February 16, 2005. - Toronto, Ontario Canada.
Surgeon: Dr. John Craig Fielding   M.D.   F.R.C.S. (C) (416.766.8890)
Pre-Op/Post-Op Pics

Offline Ryuuk

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It's in the other thread that was moved here

Quote
So that was fun. Immediately after I woke up my chest started swelling, and an hour later i was rushed back down to the theater to be put under general again as I had a bilateral hematoma and my chest was huge and swollen with blood. I don't know how it could have happened, let alone on both sides but it did and I was at a pain level of 10, feeling like my stitches were about to explode.

I'm home how and everything seems fine. My surgeon reassured me and my extremely angry parents that if my results were to be 10/10 before the hematomas they will still be the same afterwards.

Drains didn't hurt at all coming out you wusses.

The vest sucks.

What a long strange trip it's been.

In later news, today I got the bill for the second surgery.

He charged me $832 to fix my bilateral hematomas.

Thankfully, after my dad called up he agreed to bulk bill it to the government. (Also, the second anesthetist bill hasn't arrived hopefully she bulk bills too.)

Must have really grilled him I guess.

The surgeon did a fantastic job from what I can see, aside from the hematomas..

Hardly any swelling, no brusing and the areola looks fine and i have some sensation, I can't see the incisions yet or the whole areola as it's covered by a breathable dressing that I can kind of see through.

Feeling no pain, haven't felt any since the hematomas. Took home no pain meds ands haven't needed any.

To reiterate, you middle aged men are sooks. :P


Oh and I now know why many don't return after having surgery.

You no longer feel like a helpless victim with the world bearing down on you, you are finally free and feel like a normal male. You don't need to be dramatic and self pitying.

Let me tell you, the feeling is bliss.

If you are my age and dealing with this -

Surgery money has to come before your car

Before alcohol

Maybe even before university.

Start living like everyone else and be happy.

« Last Edit: February 02, 2009, 11:01:07 AM by Ryuuk »

 

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