Too Fat For Surgery?

[barkerbox]

I'm 32 and have puffy nipples.  I am also 40 pounds overweight but hope to lose it soon (already lost 10).  Would it be better to wait until I'm at a lower weight to have surgery?  Or does it not really matter?

Also, my nipples are puffy 98% of the time but when they get cold they shrivel up and look normal.  Has this been everyone else's experience?

[Darth Menace]

I by no means am an expert, but from reading around this board, no the 40lbs overweight won't be make it or break it.  Obviously lose it for your own health.

I just had the surgery not long ago and i can tell you I was the same for the puffy nipples.  They were big pink and puffy, but when they got hard they looked normal.  It was one of those things that I loved a breeze at the beach.

[DrBermant]

I'm 32 and have puffy nipples.  I am also 40 pounds overweight but hope to lose it soon (already lost 10).  Would it be better to wait until I'm at a lower weight to have surgery?  Or does it not really matter?

Also, my nipples are puffy 98% of the time but when they get cold they shrivel up and look normal.  Has this been everyone else's experience?

Congratulations on the weight loss so far.

Have you checked your Body Mass Index with a BMI Calculator?  

BMI does not differentiate between fat, muscle, and bone.  Body Fat Calculators can help with the fat percentage and are better at helping define the fat component.

Plastic Surgery is not an alternative to losing weight.  With surgery, an overweight person will still look like a overweight person, just one with smaller breasts.

The problem is that Male Fat Pattern extends around the chest, under the arms, and around the back.  Plastic Surgery is not a good tool for a global fat problem.

I advise my patients to get to a weight / body fat percentage they are comfortable with before considering surgery.  
 
Weight Loss Before Gynecomastia Surgery can help with the fat, but not the gland.  However, you cannot pick where your fat comes from. Plastic Surgery is also not a good jump start tool for weight loss.  I have seen disasters from patients from other doctors with deformities from significant weight loss after their surgery.  Men tend to put fat on first in the belly and chest bands.  We tend to take of those areas last.  Early surgery and depending on weight loss to predictably change the body is a nasty gamble.  No Surgery Body Shaping Garments are a better temporizing choice.

Finishing weight loss before surgery is usually much better than further weight loss after surgery. Weight loss is a coarse tool, Plastic Surgery is better reserved for refinement.

Hope this helps,

Michael Bermant, MD
Learn More About Gynecomastia and Male Breast Reduction

[barkerbox]

Congratulations on the weight loss so far.

Thank you.

Have you checked your Body Mass Index with a BMI Calculator?  By definition you are in the upper range of severely obese. That is almost Morbidly Obese a condition that shortens life and badly increases risks of elective surgery.

Uh, what?  How can you tell if I'm severely obese or not when I haven't told you how much I weigh or how tall I am?  I weigh 237 pounds and 6'3".  My current BMI is 29.6.

Plastic Surgery is not an alternative to losing weight.  With surgery, an overweight person will still look like a overweight person, just one with smaller breasts.

Plastic Surgery is not a good tool for a global fat problem.

Finishing weight loss before surgery is usually much better than further weight loss after surgery. Weight loss is a coarse tool, Plastic Surgery is better reserved for refinement. 

I did not say that I wanted surgery to lose weight. 

I'm not looking for surgery to solve a global fat problem. 

Refinement is exactly what I'm seeking. 

I am specifically talking about puffy nipples, this being the 'puffy nipples' section, after all.

I advise my patients to get to a weight / body fat percentage they are comfortable with before considering surgery. 

This could be relevant advice, but since you appear to have misclassified me as a severly obese man who is interested in having all of his breast fat lipo'ed away, I have no idea!

Thanks for taking the time to reply, but you appear to have missed the point of my question.

[DrBermant]

Have you checked your Body Mass Index with a BMI Calculator?

Uh, what?  How can you tell if I'm severely obese or not when I haven't told you how much I weigh or how tall I am?  I weigh 237 pounds and 6'3".  My current BMI is 29.6.

Sorry about that. That puts you instead at the very high end of overweight almost obese. The same principle applies depending on the body fat percentage since BMI alone does not differentiate between fat muscle or bone. 

Plastic Surgery is not an alternative to losing weight.  With surgery, an overweight person will still look like a overweight person, just one with smaller breasts.

Plastic Surgery is not a good tool for a global fat problem.

Finishing weight loss before surgery is usually much better than further weight loss after surgery. Weight loss is a coarse tool, Plastic Surgery is better reserved for refinement. 

I did not say that I wanted surgery to lose weight. 

I'm not looking for surgery to solve a global fat problem. 

Refinement is exactly what I'm seeking. 

I am specifically talking about puffy nipples, this being the 'puffy nipples' section, after all.
Puffy Nipples

The global fat will still contribute to the contour of the breasts. Surgery will result in smaller breasts, but still breasts because of the global fat issue. Check for examples that a doctor has of compromise surgery done on almost obese individuals to see what I mean.

I advise my patients to get to a weight / body fat percentage they are comfortable with before considering surgery. 

This could be relevant advice, but since you appear to have misclassified me as a severly obese man who is interested in having all of his breast fat lipo'ed away, I have no idea!

Thanks for taking the time to reply, but you appear to have missed the point of my question.

Although I did not have the correct BMI, the principle still applies. You seem to have missed the point of my answer. Photographs tell the story about such attempts to have surgery "refine" the look of a global fat problem.

Hope this helps,

Michael Bermant, MD
Learn More About Gynecomastia and Male Breast Reduction

[barkerbox]

Thanks.

[DrBermant]

Thanks.

You are welcome.

Michael Bermant, M.D.