Hello all, my first post here, but I've been "lurking" for a few months. Just thought I'd share this since I found every story that I read (even ones that bore little resemblance to my own situation) very informative and helpful, so I'd like to give a little back. Hopefully some of this will be useful to someone.
I am 19 years old and have a mild/moderate case of primarily glandular, truly unilateral gyne. The right side of my chest is 100% normal, no extra fat, no gland, no nothing. The left side has an irregular glandular lump which would probably be about the size of a ping-pong ball if you could wad it all up. I find it difficult to tell if there is any extra fat in the area, but my PS says that a little bit of liposculpture will be needed, so I'll take his word for it.
I first noticed the lump in my left breast around 6 years ago, and it started it out so small that I never really gave it any thought. It certainly wasn't visually noticeable at the time, and as such gave me absolutely no grief. Luckily, it stayed fairly small during my first two years of high school (during which PE was required, including swimming etc.). In hindsight, I think it was growing slowly throughout my entire puberty, but as I said, I didn't really give it any thought at the time. After reading other peoples' stories, I realize how lucky I was that it wasn't visible during this stage of my life, as I can see that my self-image, confidence and my memory of high school could have been severely damaged. I truly sympathize with all of you who had to go through the emotional pain that I narrowly missed.
During my third and fourth years of highschool, I became quite inactive and gained some weight. I was never significantly overweight (I think I peaked at around 180 lbs., and I am about 5'11"), but there was definitely a bit of a noticable pudge in my face, chest and belly. The pudge visually disguised its continued growth, and I continued to disregard the lump. If I had to guess, I would say that it stopped becoming larger sometime during my senior year. I lost weight again during the summer before my first year of university, returning to around 160 lbs., and it was during this time that I started to become unhappy with how my chest looked. However, until I finally got it checked by a doctor, my fear of cancer always trumped any aesthetic concerns, but during freshman year I was too embarrassed to confront either. I should say that it isn't at all noticeable when I wear a large t-shirt, which is a size up from my ideal fit, but looks normal on me nonetheless. This makes my life 1,000x easier than the daily struggle some of you guys have to go through, and again I am grateful for my relative luck.
I was also "spotted" for the first time at the very beginning of first year, when my entire residence floor went swimming together. As I got out of the water, I heard one of the guys say "I love bitch t*ts!". I was confused, and at first I wasn't even sure the remark was directed at me. I looked around to see who had said it, and sure enough the guy (who had already established himself as a bit of a class clown) was looking at me. Luckily, nobody else was talking to him or looking at me, so I simply brushed it off and quickly put a shirt on. I had already gotten over the typical high-school lack of self-confidence, so it didn't really bother me. The guy was just trying to joke around, and after he saw that I was unamused didn't pursue it or try to point it out to others. It was awkward, but far from devastating. It did, however, end my willingness to go shirtless in public, as I did not want to risk triggering a more embarrassing situation.
For the next year nothing much happened with it. Girls who had occaision to see me shirtless were very understanding (I called it a "benign breast tumor", which always evoked some nice sympathy), and nobody else ever knew. Last summer I got into very good shape, riding 8-10 hilly miles on a bike or running 2 miles a day, and it was then that it started to really bug me. I felt (and still feel) cheated that I could put so much work into feeling healthy and looking good, and still not be able to go shirtless on a hot summer day. Additionally, some online research into male breast cancer spurred me into finally taking the plunge and calling a doctor. I didn't match most of the symptoms of cancer (pain, redness, discharge), but the fact that it was unilateral while the benign alternative (gyne) was typically bilateral worried me.
After I returned to school I finally made the call to student health services and made a doctor's appt. This was ridiculously hard for me to do...I must have sat with the phone in my hand for a good half hour before getting up the courage. I learned that telling someone you've grown to trust is one thing, telling a complete stranger receptionist is another game altogether. Naturally, when I told the receptionist she was totally professional and I was off the phone with an appointment in less than a minute. I saw the doctor and she told me (after a thorough physical exam including a testicular exam, so prepare to drop your drawers if you take this problem to a GP) that it was almost certainly gynecomastia and she ran some hormone tests, which came back normal. She then referred me to a general surgeon.
The general surgeon was a really nice guy who specialized in breast cancer/mastectomies. He was absolutely thrilled to see a male patient; I guess it must have been a nice change for him. He gave me a little more info on gyne than the doc had, and proceeded to tell me that he could excise the gland if I wanted it gone. However, he warned me about the risk of nipple inversion, loss of feeling etc. and told me that it could still potentially go away on its own(which I now gather is totally wrong, as I am through puberty and my hormones are normal). I asked him what he would do in my position, and he said the he would wait it out. I decided not to do the procedure, but held out hope that it would go away on its own.
Then, this February I was bored and on a whim decided to put "gynecomastia" into google, and stumbled upon this site. After extensive reading I realized that this will not go away on its own, and that the procedure to rectify it is usually done by plastic, not general surgeons. Upon further browsing I decided to give Dr. Fielding a call, since he is close to home and is quite affordable since his excisions are put through OHIP. I called his office (this time it was easy, since I was armed with the g-word and knew that they deal with tons of these) on Feb. 23 and lucked out and got a cancellation on the 25th. He was very kind and professional, and answered all of my questions. I booked the surgery for May 4th, and I honestly cannot wait! His price was Cdn$500 + $35 tax, OHIP covers the rest. That seems to be exactly half of his regular rate, which makes sense since I'm only getting half the regular surgery! He told me that he only sees around one truly unilateral patient a year, which works out to around one in a hundred.
I will be turning 20 around 2 months post-op, and I can't think of a better birthday present than a normal-looking chest. I am eternally grateful that this is something that I will (hopefully) be able to leave in my teenage years. Anyway, thanks for reading and I apologize for the length. I will post a more thorough description of my consult. with Fielding in the Canada forum, probably tomorrow since it is getting late. Pre-op pics will also be forthcoming once I can stealthily nab a friend's digital camera, probably within a few days.
cheers,
-f
Topic: fielding may 4th (update - 7 months post-op) (Read 5306 times)
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