I had a consultation with a PS today who has designed a sharp cutting cannula. He examined me did some Q&A etc.
I like the idea of the sharp cutting cannula because I'm afraid of having scarred up nipples. On the other hand I'm afraid of the sharp cutting cannula because I hear good and bad about it.
The doc I saw said excising the gland removes a mass, that sometimes is hard to contour right when taken out.
Using this cannula, he explained, he can removed it slowly and accurately, along with fat to get a contour. At least that's what I got from what he said. Hopefully I'm understanding this right.
To be honest my chest feels almost exactly like my stomach fat to me- I feel a little difference but not much.
I'm sick of not knowing what to do. I really need some good advice from doctors, not salesmen, on what procedure works the best. What is taught in med school- the method that has the most success?
Also- I would think most plastic surgeons would have photos to show. This one, very surprisingly, had none to show me other than the 4-5 on his website. If he does 25 a year and has been doing this for 15+ years, he should have more than that. But he says he doesn't take after photos. He said the result is in front of you. I guess my point is that photos aren't always taken for the patient, but for the potential patient to see his work...
Help? Really sounded good, but not sure.
I have posted here before about my experiences of many patients coming to me after being unhappy having surgery done by these cannula by surgeons claiming that they work. Have you tried searching this forum for patient experiences by doctor's name or the phrase "sharp cutting cannula"? The search function is a powerful tool to see others' results.
Over the years I have been asked for help by so many patients done elsewhere that I recently reviewed the past few years and found over 500 requests for help after liposuction done elsewhere. There were so many that I divided the patients by where they were asking for help and recently published some of the requests and complaints for New York, New Jersey and Texas. There were so many more, I have yet to consider publishing. On my site I have posted actual after surgery complications pictures for patients having had sharp cutting cannula liposuction. I coined the phrase Puffy Nipple Complication for one variation of the deformity I was correcting for this problem. In another example I posted results for which I could not repair the extended crater deformity (another term I coined for complications of another type). The main point of that page is that when looking at limited documentation (relaxed views) the true results could be hidden. When flexing muscles, lifting arms up overhead, and videos the real life issues are no longer hidden. (Unless the individual only cares what they look like with their arms down, muscles relaxed.)
In addition I have used aggressive designed cannula over the years and never saw it remove gland components. With my Dynamic Technique I start with the gland at the edge of the areola. When fingers of gland extend beyond the original under nipple component, I have documented that liposuction does not remove those elements, just the fingers of fat. I have made videos in the operating room documenting the process. Fat floats in the liposuction container. Gland and firm tissues sink. I have looked in these canisters and have yet to find any gland elements.
If I did not see so many unhappy patients done with such tools, it might not matter. There is no reason why someone who is happy with a method should come to me. However if something works, a surgeon should be able to demonstrate such results more than just a few images with muscles relaxed. With what I have been documenting from unhappy patients done by surgeons advocating such methods, my own experiences dealing with the elements of male chest contouring in the operating room, the complaint in this forum from patients unhappy after liposuction only surgery, and the revision cases that I have then removed residual gland from patients who had surgery done elsewhere, no, I do not see sufficient documentation that something works. Liposuction will work fine if the gland contribution to the contour is so small that remaining fat can hide the gland.
Remember that whenever a surgeon needs to add additional incisions, check how the other incisions look. Something you cannot do if they only show images with arms hiding those incisions! My read is that 2 small incisions is better than needing 4. You should also look for close up pictures of the scars since verbal claims for small scars is not as powerful as seeing what they look like. (Again something that does not matter if you don't do any activities which can end up showing those regions.)
Sorry, new forum rules ban the linking of proof and documentation by surgeons. Taking someones word for proof is not as powerful as actual pictures and video documentation. Look for something as critical for at least my Standard After Gynecomastia pictures or even more refined, Standard Videos. Otherwise it is a gamble having surgery by something that you cannot critically examine what that method produces.
Hope this helps,
Michael Bermant, M.D.