Dr. Delgado- An Excellent Experience

[freedom-now]

Hello Everyone.  I just wanted to share my experience of bilateral gynecomastia reduction surgery performed by Dr. Delgado in Novato, CA in late April.  First, let me give you a little background:  I am a physician in my mid 50's who lives in Northern California and have been cursed with moderate gynecomastia since about age 13 or so.  I have tried everything under the sun to get rid of this condition including weight loss, exercise, no alcohol and finally Raloxifene.  Nothing worked at all, and over time the gyno was slowly getting worse as I aged.  It finally got so bad that it was nearly impossible to hide with even dark, loose clothing and so I knew I had to do something. Like most of us with gyno, I was severely embarrassed to take my shirt off in public and never wore white T-shirts or any tight fitting clothing on top.  Life often revolved around the best way to hide the condition and ways to avoid being caught with my shirt off (as in avoiding trips to the beach, pools, and hot places).  Slowly, life seemed to be getting more restricted and I knew in my heart that I was wasting my life over this stupid condition.

So, I decided that action was necessary and the time was right.  I interviewed several different surgeons and realized that many of them were not ideal for the gyno reduction surgery.  Some only did lipo, while others only did glandular excision.  I knew in my case that both techniques would be necessary in order for the job to be done right with good cosmetic results.  Finally, after a long and intensive internet search, I came across Dr. Delgado and he seemed like the best MD for the job, so I set up an initial appointment.

I was immediately struck by the kind and caring and non-judgmental attitude found in his office.  The staff was friendly, knowledgeable and did not make me feel in any way uncomfortable….let’s face it, this is a really embarrassing problem for any man to have, and it is refreshing to have it be treated just like any other medical problem.

So, when Dr. Delgado came into the exam room, I was already at ease with the situation.  He continued this sense of ease by being very personable, compassionate and yet professional all at the same time.  As a physician myself, all I can really say is that this is a hard combination of characteristics to balance, and yet Dr. Delgado did so without difficulty.  He is a great guy:  both humble and yet the best plastic surgeon for this condition in my opinion.  Also, he is down to earth and easy to relate to.

After examining my gynecomastia, and showing me photos of his before and after work, I was convinced that this office and Dr. Delgado would be my best shot at getting a good result.  He is an amazing body sculptor, and artist, and his photos showed incredible results.

So, after another appointment for a pre-op physical exam, I underwent the “big surgery” on April 20th.  Things went very smoothly and I awoke in minimal discomfort and fully alert.  Dr. Gaynor, the anesthesiologist, did an outstanding job and was a pleasure to meet. A brief check post op with the dressings off looking for any possible bleeding showed the result I had hoped for:  a completely flat chest!  I could hardly believe it!

Since I live about 150 miles away form Dr. Delgado’s office, I decided to hang out locally for the first 4 days and then leave after my drains and stitches were removed.  I stayed at the Novato Oaks Inn where there is a special room rate for patients of Dr. Delgado and this was a great, relaxing place to stay.  There was good, reasonably priced room service for meals, and the rooms were spacious, clean and comfortable.  Since I was doing this whole thing secretly, without even my wife knowing, their office arranged to have an overnight nursing assistant stay with me the first night after surgery (mainly to keep an eye on me for safety reasons).  This person turned out to be a real nice lady who was quite helpful and I think a good idea to have for the first 16-20 hours after surgery.

The post op pain was minimal and I only really took the Vicodin once a night to help with sleep.  It is now post op day 30 for me and the incisions are healing well with minimal scarring (which should fade to not even noticeable with time) and no real complications.  The only one problem I had was a minor allergic reaction to the antibiotic ointment and this was easily handled with over the counter cortisone cream.  The results are excellent, way beyond my expectations, and I will be able to walk around with my shirt off in a few months without problem. My only advice is:  If you are ready to make this plunge, I think it would be hard to find a better, more skilled and compassionate team then that of Dr. Delgado and his staff! 

 

[Dave_8]

Congrats on the surgery. Better late then never.

[Pacifico]

I agree with this post 100%!

[i_dont_know]

Great story! It's a really amazing feeling when you finally see that flat chest you've been wishing you could have again after years and years of dealing with and stressing over the gyne.

My only question is how in the world did you hide it from your wife?! Between the vest and general soreness and discomfort over the first couple of weeks post-op, it would have been impossible for me to hide it from my girlfriend completely.

[freedom-now]

That is a very good question: How did I hide it from my wife?

Well: I am generally not a good liar, but I had to come up with a story for the time of surgery and then the fact that I was wearing a compression garment for 6 weeks (about 9 more days of this damned sucker!!!).  So, I initially told her that I was going backpacking and rock climbing for a week.  She had a trip scheduled for 3 days when I got back, so that gave me a 10 day window without her around.  After the surgery, I realized I would need a new excuse, as hiding the vest and the associated dressings for 6 weeks would be impossible.  So, I extended my little white lie and told her that I had fallen while rock climbing and busted a few ribs, contused my chest wall severely and developed a severe hematoma which needed draining in the ER.  I told her that after the hematoma was drained, I was advised to wear the compression vest for 6 weeks to make sure that it did not recur.  My wife is a nurse and was initially skeptical with this story because she knows that with broken ribs a person can easily get pneumonia with any chest restriction (as in the garment).  Well, I was ready for this and countered that, while this is normally the case, the large hematoma was the biggest concern and that is why I really needed to use the garment.  I shower and change in the bathroom, so she really has not been able to detect anything.  Having sex, I plan to do this initially at night with the lights off until the scars are not too noticeable…..we have not fooled around much for the past 4 weeks…no big deal if you have been together for as long as we have (about 25 years)…..so far my little story has held up…if she finally figures it all out, I think it will be a big laugh and she won’t be too mad!