Adelaide - Gynocomastia surgery - Consultation through to post op.

[haroldbishop]

---The story ----

 I am in my thirties and i have been a gyne sufferer for at least 9 years now and quite frankly i have had enough. I have tried everything .. changing diet, extreme exercising, no exercising, no drinking, no beer, i have quit smoking (5 years now).. you name it i have tried it. I am medium height and am a skinny/athletic build so the gyne is mostly tissue and not much fat. I have found difficulty in living with this at times, especially in summer i become very self conscious... anyway after trying everything i am going to have surgery.

--The first step ----

 Today i went to the doctors and have taken the first step to dealing with my Gyne. It was good to speak with the doctor about this
and after an examination was happy to refer me to a surgeon. I have been refered to a plastic Surgeon in Glenelg called Dr Darren Malony (does anyone know anything about him?) however before i have a consultation i plan on getting some basic blood tests to check for any irregularities.

--The Financial side of things ----

The bottom line is that i do not have private health however i have realised that even if i sign up with one tomorrow i cannot claim a rebate for at least 12 months (Unless anyone knows anything different) so i will rely on the medicare rebates solely.After reading some of the posts regarding Adelaide surgery i am hoping to get a good quote at under 4K however i am interested in finding a good surgeon as i hate the though of having to have a revision.


--Expectations ----
My expectations are realistic, i expect small scars, a lengthy healing period, a few weeks of discomfort when wearing the compression garment and i really hope that after swelling subsides i am happy.. even 80 % happy i would be stoked!

--Advice-----

If anyone has any advice i appreciate it.... i am nervous but am really going to try to document my experience from start to finish so watch this space if you are at all interested.... Tomorrow i go for blood tests.

[Liandoolb]

Hey, good luck! I hope everything goes well - I'm looking forward to hearing how it goes.

[haroldbishop]

The Latest.

 I have now seen two surgeons and a GP and this is what i have found so far..

--GP--

 Seeing the GP was fine. I was a bit nervous about the inspection but GPs have seen it all ...and more. The GP i seen was fine and was very forthcoming in refering me to a surgeon (Dr Maloney - Glenelg/North Terrace). I also asked for a referral for Dr Robert Coren @ Calgary (i had read about him on this forum). The Doc was cool with this, I said to the doc that i would like to have visit an Endocrinologist as i would like to get my blood checked for testosterone/oestr... etc.  The Doc directed me to just drop into Clinpath and get a free blood test.I did this and two days later we reviewed the results..... nothing unusual... i knew it (perhaps the irregularities occured 9 years ago when this developed?.. although i am convinced that this is genetic)... anyway... after reviiewing the blood i made appointments with both surgeons.

--Dr Robert Coren--
 I went out to Clagary in North Adelaide on a nice day and had my consultation with Dr Coren. The consultation went fine and Dr Coren answered all of my questions reassuringly. The procedure with him involves drains and an overnight stay,this seems to be the only difference between the 2 surgeons i visited. I am awaiting my quote however i expect it comeout between $3500> $5000 after medicare rebate. Dr Coren did not have any before after photos to show me.

--Dr Maloney--
I had this consultation down the Bay after work. This consultation was fine and he assured me that an overnight stay was not necessary. I am awaiting the final quote. This surgeon says he operates on Gyne perhaps three times a year although he does loads of boob jobs... (i  dont know how that really helps??),no photos or drains post op.

--Decisions--

Both surgeons seem the similar however..

Dr Coren reckons an overnight stay although Dr Maloney thinks this is not necessary
Neither could provide me with before and after photos of their work
Both said they do a couple of ops a year.

I will post prices soon but i guess if anyone has any thoughts on the above i would love to hear about this.

Thanks... more soon.

[Ernster86]

Hi there,

Good luck with your OP.
 
Just wanted to say i saw Robert coren a while back and he was very honest with me saying that 90% of my suspected gyno was infact muscle and that having surgery probably wasnt worth it for me and could make it look worse.

May not help you much, but it was good to see he was honest atleast.

Ernie

EDIT - OOPS sry didnt realise your the same guy that PM'ed me:)

[haroldbishop]

Thanks for your reply mate, I agree he seemed like a really honest nice bloke.

I have decided that I am going to have a consultation with sue and then decide between the three.
As I don't have private cover price might have an impact on my decision but I want to make an informed as possible decision I guess.

I have booked with sue and got some cheap flights for a day trip to melb.. I will post my experience soon +  a summary of al costs with the three surgeons.

Cheers.

[freefromG]

If they havent got pics i wouldnt recomend it full stop. and f they only do 3 a year dont even bother, you might only have insision scars but you will have depressions where fat was removed or damaged in places you dont want it. thats so long as they even take out the gland in its entirety. I do not believe that Boob job PS have the same aesthetic eye for the male chest.

[haroldbishop]

Thanks for your comments. I admit that both surgeons I have seen so far have not really impressed. What surprised me the most is that from a customer point of view I am purchasing a service that neither can actually prove that they have ever performed I.e. Both replied that they don't show/take before and after photos for this type of surgery. When asked how many ops they performed of this kind in the last 1/ months both replied "a couple". If I am spending this much money I expect a lot more.
 Seeing sue in 2 weeks, .. I hear good things!

[freefromG]

Good idea i hear she is the goods. My PS had good pics and seemed quite reputable, but still i took a chance and get fcked over, although to be fair, better see out the full recovery time before final judgement.
Dont go with the blokes you have already seen, even if Sue costs more it seems a no brainer if you decide to go ahead.

[aleksandar]

Thanks for posting all this and I'll be keeping an eye for your updates.

I decided myself I want to do it with Sue - she's done it probably hundreds of times in her 20 years career and she seems to know exactly what she is doing. Experience is second to none in surgery and can make all the difference, and thanks to you I know that no one in Adelaide is convincing enough in this area. Now I don't have to go and see the doctors you talked to (I did plan to) and I'm grateful to you for that. As soon as I save enough, I'm going to make an appointment with Sue. The extra cost, including flights and hotel is frustrating, but nothing you can do about it. You would expect that at least one plastic surgeon in the whole of South Australia could show you photos from performed gyno surgery, but if they can't, then forget about them.

Also, feel free to post all the useful details you can think of, including whether you got a referral for Sue, who from, how long you had to wait for the first appointment (I suppose you should call some 4-6 weeks prior as there will be a long waiting list?), cheap flights and hotel info...I appreciate everything you post. You saved me a lot of hours searching for doctors in Adelaide.

[freefromG]

Wish you guys all the best. keep us posted

[haroldbishop]

So as I write this I am at Melbourne airport waiting to return to Adelaide. My consultation with sue went well and based on previous experiences I feel a lot more comfortable selecting sue as my surgeon and here is why........
I had a basic set of questions in my head that I have been asking at each consultation. Unlike all other surgeons backed up each answer with examples directly related to her experience. And that is the bottom line for me!
 sue says that she does several of these ops a week and has clearly developed a working knowledge of how to achieve the best results. We discussed surgical techniques, compression garments, risks, logistics .... All the good stuff.
 her office is emailing me my quote tomorrow as they have to contact the hospital for current prices. Unless these preices have gone up I reckon sue will be my surgeon and I will get the op around April.
 I will post her prices when I receive them... In the meantime her is quick summary of how to get her book etc.

Booking a consultation:
Call sues office on  Tel: (03) 9429 9666.. Simple.

Getting there.
Plane 
Use webjet to find the chepest flights then book them directly from the carriers site ( I got $120 adl-MLB return)

Once you arrive in melb get skybus $26 return and this will take you to Spencer street southern cross station.

From southern cross get tram 75 to richmond or get a map and have a nice 2 hr walk along the yarra to get there.

Cost
Flights ... See above
Skybus.... $26 return runs every 15 mins... Very often anayway
Tram... No idea.

Consultation
$170ish
Medicare rebate -$65
Total out of pocket $105

All in all I guess the day cost me.. $251 + food and a ber at the airport.

Operation fees real soon , bye.

[freefromG]

several a week...yep she seems to be the go to Doc in Aus for this stuff. Wouldnt mess around with anyone else, too late for me, but for revisions she might also be the best.

[haroldbishop]

So I have been quoted my prices.

Sue's fee for surg $4000 ( I can claim back $500 on Medicare)

anaeisthetic ( est $1000, I have to contact them)

hospital bed $440

operating theatre $2100

hospital garments $40

compression garments $101

pathology $150

total without any rebates $7831

total with sues fee rebated on medicate $7331.

Are these fees consistant with everyone wlses or do people think that there has been a bit of a hike?
I am having excission only.

Also, is anyone aware of anything else on this list being Medicare rebatable?
I have no private health insurance.

[gynebarn]

Sounds like it might have gone up a little bit.. depends if your surgery is different from others though.  But with the demand for Sue I wouldn't be surprised if the prices have gone up a bit.

Medicare will cover (from my experience) something like $700 or so of the surgeon's fees... I think.

[haroldbishop]

Ok,

so my surg is this week. I will write an update soon after. After years of research ... Waiting .. Saving...