Hi Dr. Bermant. I want to first thank you for all the time and effort you put into replying and posting on this site. I've found some great information on this site and if I have to get a revision would love to have it done by you as I feel you truly are the expert on gynecomastia. I wish I'd have come across this site before I had the surgery. Anyways, I wanted to give you some background on my recent surgery and if you had the time would love to see what your initial thoughts might be.
I'm 32 years old, 6'3', 225 lbs and had gyno surgery 3 months ago. I used steroids in the past and have been on acid reflux medicine for about 10 years (Prevacid, then Nexium now Protonix). I developed lumps under my nipples from steroid use in my early 20's and then even after I stopped taking them they continued to grow. I went to see an endocrinologist about 4 years ago and he labeled my breast lumps as "acute" something or other and dismissed it. Two years ago I weighed 280 lbs and after losing over 50 really started to notice the appearance of breasts. Too emberrased by the condition I decided to have the surgery done by a plastic surgeon who seemed to be quite knowledgeable on the subject.
Long story short, my chest looked fantastic after the surgery (minus the bruising), nipples were flat on my chest and the shape looked quite muscular............. but now my nipples seem to be puffy again after 3 months post op and have noticed this reappearance slowly for a few weeks now that I've ditched the vest after my doctor's suggestion. On the left side I have two small lumps that hurt when pressed which is the identical feeling I had when I would press the lumps before surgery which has me concerned. I was hoping the now minor bulbness like appearance of my breasts was some lingering swelling.
I went to see my doctor yesterday and he says I do not need to be concerned with the lumps and termed them "nodules" I believe. Upon physical evaluation he said the puffiness around my nipples was the skin sinking down and that it would adhere to my chest as time went on. My concern is that my chest is starting to look worse since taking the vest off a few weeks ago and since the doctor says he feels no fluid I'm a little dissapointed that I seem to be getting symptoms again. He gave me an emphatic "no" when I asked if the gyno could come back but everything I'm reading here says it's certainly a possiblity.
So could these lumps be glands growing or could they in fact be nothing to worry about? Do you think the doctor's theory about the "skin settling" or "sinking down" which is causing the bulbness or skin/fat accumulation around the lower portion of my chest to be accurate and that it could correct itself over time? I guess what I'm trying to gauge is how realistic or rationale his comments about my chest are. Would love to hear your thoughts, thanks Dr. Bermant.
Thank you for your kind words. Patience is usually necessary after surgery to wait to see results with some methods.
Standard After Gynecomastia Surgery Pictures is one way to help others understand your concerns and document tissue and or problem evolution.
Weight Loss can help with the fat of gynecomastia. Remaining gland and skin can continue to be contour problems. I work with many
Bodybuilders with Gynecomastia. Some were the result of cycles that stopped growing after a time. Yet others have had continued breast growth well after discontinuing the drugs. The endocrine system is in delicate balance. It can be thrown off to such a degree that restoring the balance can be quite difficult. Breast growth can have multiple contributing factors.
Significant
Swelling / Bruising After Gynecomastia Surgery, (much more than seen in my typical patients), can mask residual gland deformity. As the swelling resolves, the problems remaining behind are sometimes revealed. That is one of the reasons I prefer to use techniques with minimal swelling.
Gland Regrowth After Gynecomastia Surgery can happen, but there are usually unstable problems that should be addressed before surgery. Such regrowth does not typically happen for stable gynecomastia and is very rare for my own patients. For that reason, when someone tells me that their breasts are still growing and tender, I prefer to have that problem treated first and stabilized. Yes, I have seen many patients with regrowth after other doctors' surgery that did not address such issues first. You can see some of the examples on my website.
Although tenderness can be a
Symptom of Gynecomastia gland stimulation, it can also just be recovering injured nerves after surgery.
Lumps can be healing tissues, scars, residual gland and other possibilities.
Options depend on what is actually going on. I am glad to help patients explore such concerns during a consultation or a
Preliminary Remote Discussion.
Absoultly agree with you on dr. bermant a true professional:). Thats weird that you feel it coming back could it be your acid reflux meds? Have you had your hormone levels checked? If it is because estrogen and gyno is coming back i know letrozole stops estrogen, and can kills the newly glands. As a previous AAS user im assuming your familar with it
Thank you also for your kind comments. Antiestrogens can help active phase gland swelling from hormonal stimulation. They do not help quiescent stable gland.
Hope this helps,
Michael Bermant, MD
Learn More About Revision Gynecomastia and Chest Surgery
Topic: Three months after surgery and fear it's coming back (Read 7340 times)
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