I am a 37yo male with gynecomastia. It first appeared about 10 years ago. The cause of it is still unknown. I am a retired military veteran and I have had one correction surgery to this point (liposuction). The results were not great. In fact the surgeon truly felt that the breast tissue had regrown. He now wants to perform a more aggressive type surgery (excision). I too want this, but I am concerned about the scars that he is telling me about. These scars will result from the excess skin that he wants to remove. I asked him if we could not simply insert pectoral implants to fill the void that would be left by the removal of the breast tissue.
I would like to know if anyone has done this or know of anyone that has done this for the correction of Gynecomastia. If there are any M.D's on here, I am interested if there are any published papers on this type of correction of gynecomastia. I am very comfortable with my surgeon, but he says has never thought of doing this. It seems rather logical to me.
Pectoral implants are one way to fill a chest but just do not look good on animation. Before agreeing to have such surgery, try to see someone flexing their muscles, playing sports, or other activities involving motion. In person is best but hardest to achieve, movies next best, and still pictures alone do not tell the story as well.
Skin reduction is a good compromise for the patient with a great deal of sagging skin. For a patient with normal skin elasticity, skin reduction is not normally needed during breast reduction surgery. Elastic skin can really shrink quite well on its own and skin reduction scars then are normally not needed.
How well skin shrinks after removing mass behind it can vary greatly as shown by the two balloon examples on that link. For my techniques, most of the change occurs in the operating room. There can be some further shrinkage over time after surgery. Building muscle mass can be one way of filling up a loose skin envelope. However, it is very difficult to maintain such large muscles throughout our lives.
However if after weight loss or surgery the nipples are low and tissue hangs and bounces around, skin reduction can really improve the contour of the chest. Too many patients have commented to me how their lives were changed and that the scars were a good trade off.
Excess Skin of the Male Chest with Gynecomastia comes in various degrees. Here are my
Standard Pictures for Evaluating Extra Skin on the Male Chest.
For some patients, my
small incision skin reduction chest lift is an option. This eliminates the unnatural very obvious unnatural vertical scar. For smaller problems, I have evolved my
Internal Lift Male Mastopexy Surgery that has even smaller scars. My internal lift is not suitable when the excess skin is a major contributing factor for the deformity. A
Male Donut Mastopexy when pushed too far will leave a star burst deformity that detracts from the result. That is why picking your surgeon carefully can be so important.
Yes, scars are a compromise. We need some place to remove the excess skin. The shorter the scars, the less skin that is removed. However for my typical non-weight loss patient, such skin reduction is just not needed.
Options are best explored during an evaluation with an experienced surgeon who can demonstrate their skills with this compromise issue of extra skin of the male chest sculpture.
Hope this helps,
Michael Bermant, MD
Learn More About Male Mastopexy Chest Lift for Sagging Tissues
Topic: Pectoral Implants to Correct Gynecomastia? (Read 5804 times)
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