Surgery scheduled, liposuction questions

[bl4494]

Hello, I have a surgery scheduled in about two weeks. I have had drug induced gynecomastia for about a year. My plastic surgeon is great and performs this operation often. However, he says he feels that the lumps are minimal and that liposuction alone should be fine. He did not try to convince me that liposuction will remove the tissue, and I believe he is very trustworthy.

He agreed that minimal tissue is there and assured me 9 million times that if there is still an issue with the tissue that he will do the incision. He just does not feel that incision is necessary. I believe mine is mostly fat, but the lumps are painful (probably because i mess with them) and on my mind quite often. I would like to know what other doctors think, or if someone has had a similar experience. I trust that he will excise if need be, but just a little nervous about the final results and wish I knew what was going to happen.

I am thinking that maybe the fat has accumulated on the lump making it feel slightly larger, and that the liposuction will remove that fat. Could that be the case? Would have asked in the consultation, but it came to mind afterwards.

Best

[Dr. Elliot Jacobs]

Welcome to the forum!
Manual examination can be helpful but not definitive.  No person, layman or experienced surgeon, can determine definitively how much breast tissue is present because breast tissue can feel soft and some fat can feel hard.
For me, the determination is made during surgery.  I always start with liposuction -- and in a small percentage of cases that is all that is needed.  However, after the lipo, I always examine the remaining tissues and if there is even the slightest amount of excess tissue present -- particularly directly under the areola -- I have no hesitation in performing excision.  The goal is to secure the smoothest and best contour possible.  Merely "pretty good" results are not acceptable.
It is important that you have this discussion with your surgeon at least one more time prior to surgery -- to make sure you are both in agreement on the planned procedure. Unfortunately, there have been too many guys on this forum who had a similar plan and awoke to find no excision performed and some residual tissue present.
Best of luck!
Dr Jacobs

[bl4494]

Had surgery done this morning. He ended up doing both excision and liposuction. Can't wait to see the results. My advice is that you go with a doctor you know to be trustworthy; I used a surgeon who is not mentioned on this site but I knew prior to the surgery.