I had my surgery with
Dr. Pensler in Chicago 8 days ago. I live in Madison...there really aren't too many options in the midwest as far as surgeons with lots of gynecomastia experience goes, but he seemed like the real deal and does something like 150-200 gyno surgeries a year and that extensive experience with gyno is what drew me to him. He and his staff have been very pleasant to deal with.
I had, I would say, a mild-to-moderate case of gyno. He did both excision of glandular tissue of course, and lipo. The nurse said there was more fat than expected because of how relatively little fat I have elsewhere. I saw what they removed afterwards and there was more of both than I'd expected....not a surprise when I look down at my chest and see how different it looks now, I suppose. What they used to put me under was twilight sedation, which I understand is the mildest form of anaesthesia. They said I was going to be loopy all day but I think I was pretty normal a half hour or so after coming out of it.
It was $5125 (I think), which includes everything such as consultation, follow-up appointments and compression vests. I paid up front in cash and the only alternative they offered was financing through, I think, Capital One. I maybe would have done it earlier with financing, but I already have enough credit card debt. If you can afford to finance it then I would recommend it....you're not financing an HDTV or something, it's goddamn gynecomastia and you know you want it gone as soon as possible.
There's significant bruising but virtually only around the edges of where the bandages (roughly 5x5inches) were, I can only assume because the compression vest angles off the edges of the bandages and so there's a tiny space around the bandages where there was no pressure on the skin prior to removing them. That's the only theory I can come up with. The bruising is still there for the most part, subsided a bit, but I suppose it's not as bad as I anticipated.
I sent 1 week post-op pictures to the doctor yesterday and he said there's a moderate/typical amount of swelling but it's kind of hard for me to tell where it is, especially since I'm obviously not used to my chest being shaped this way. Maybe there's a little but I kind of wonder if what he saw as swelling is mostly just my pec muscles (I lift weights); most of the shape of my chest right now is clearly muscle. I honestly don't notice much swelling.
I'm supposed to wear these vests for four weeks post-op, 24/7 aside from when I shower. It really f'ing sucks, they're extremely tight especially in the arm pits, and quite frankly I'm still not entirely sure I understand what effect it's supposed to have long term, but I think I can manage for four weeks if it'll mean a better looking chest the rest of my life. If by week 3 I don't notice any swelling I may just wear it part of the day or just buy a couple really tight Under Armour shirts or something. I'm really hoping he doesn't recommend more than 4 weeks once I send him my 4-week photos. From what I've seen online,
Dr. Pensler seems to be more insistent on wearing vests for several weeks than many other surgeons do, but I can only assume that's because he's going by his own experience with his patients.
Too early to tell about the scarring of the incisions, frankly it's what I'm most worried about and I hate even looking at them because they're (obviously) so F'ed up looking, but I know that's how it's supposed to be at this point. I just hope they heal well.
Pain isn't really much of an issue, even immediately following the surgery. It's more just general discomfort, at this point mostly caused by the damn vests.
What made me hate my gyno the most on a daily basis was how it looked under shirts, so for years I was constantly self conscious about it and fretted over what shirts I can wear, especially on hot days. Right now, the vests are so tight they make me look skinnier than I am and it kind of affects how I hold my arms, and the vests are more conspicuous than I thought they would be, so I'm not going nuts with shirts yet, but once the vest comes off for good I'm going to be excited to dig into my new wardrobe of shirts I've never been able to wear....t-shirts, thermals, etc. That's what I'm really looking forward to. When I'm done with the vests is when I will officially have that "new lease on life" feeling.
It's way too early to tell how it will turn out in the end, obviously, but just going by the fact that
Dr. Pensler does a ton of these per year, the professionalism of him and his staff and how readily available he makes himself to contacting him afterwards, I would say I recommend at least looking into a consultation with him once you can afford it, seeing as you are in Chicago.
Topic: Anyone who had surgery, get in here. (Read 3960 times)
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