Sydney Gynecomastia

[reppinthegyno]

I hope this message finds all my gyno/ex-gyno sufferers in good health. This is a fairly long and detailed post, however I hope to share light on my experiences and if it gives other people suffering from gyno a better insight then I see this post as a success. I had surfed this website a fair bit and read comments/experiences about different Drs and thought this is the least I can do once my surgery was complete.

A little about me (I don’t want to come across like an obnoxious individual, however I do know what I am going on about).
I have had gyno probably for about 5 or so years, it peaked when I was around 21 yrs old. I am in pretty decent health and an active gym goer (7+ yrs).
I have a bachelors in science (pharmacology and biochemistry), masters in clinical pharmacy and am a current post grad medicine student.

I had done extensive research on who I wanted to perform my surgery – I knew exactly what I wanted. As my glands where small but annoying me (pain, just knowing they where there – one more puffier than the other), I wanted the excision of the full gland under local anaesthetic and no tubes.
Why these 3 key points?
Because
1. It can grow back if glands are not removed,
2. I have a decent pain tolerance so I was not scared of LA – I didn’t want to be unconscious while the procedure was happening
3. Tubes would limit my daily activities and are not needed based on what technique your Dr uses.

From the Drs I had researched I chose to go with Dr Lanzer – mainly due to removal of gland and LA not general. However, I would like to emphasize that I believe there were not many other options available at that time. If you guys want I can provide a few other Drs I have researched however, I didn’t carry out the procedure with them. You may find this video useful of another Aussie who carried out the surgery and documented it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4Vidg7RCVA ; Freezma check him out

My first impression was that his practise was a complete mess. The website speaks for itself – overcrowded with utter nonsense and advertising. Despite this, due to the limitations of not many other Drs doing the procedure how I wanted – I had no other choice. I would like to emphasize here that Dr Lanzer is not a plastic surgeon, he is a dermatologist and cosmetic surgeon (Drs can claim cosmetic surgeon with a small amount of training). The terms cosmetic surgeon and plastic surgeon are NOT interchangeable and it requires a lot less study, skill, and time to attain the title.

I talked to his personal assistant/office manager Brett who was okay. Had very short (one minute) consultation over the phone with Dr Lanzer, where he discussed everything I had already known. Very few questions were asked about my health, medical history etc. Just details of the procedure basically.
I booked a date and once I paid a $1000 deposit they sent out a few forms to sign, scripts for antibiotics, antiemetics, pain killers and a blood test to be done. Basically for his own safety to test for HIV/AIDS etc – Funny to see that no hormone levels where tested such as testosterone, progesterone, estrogens/derivatives or prolactin as these are the main causes of gyno. Surgery cost $4000 all up.

There was a few follow up calls with nurses at his practise to confirm I have done the blood test and a stupid phone call with a psychologist – this was to confirm I knew the risks involved. I was not told about this and there was an additional charge for it – complete and utter waste of time and money, however each practise can do as they please I guess.

On the day of the surgery was the first time I had met Dr Lanzer. Very socially awkward individual – I guess Drs have a reputation for this lol.
One aspect which I was not pleased about was that Dr Lanzer insisted that liposuction be used which I did not deem necessary – however he stated he does it for all his patients and even if he liposuctions a few mLs out then he will be happy (by the end of the procedure not even 3 mls was taken out). He practically said if you don’t do lipo then your 1000$ will go to waste and I won’t do the procedure – this is a big F*&K YOU to any client you have in any service you provide them.
This about the time, effort and money you have invested in getting this procedure done and then the Dr basically threatens to not do it if it is not done his way – the least that could have been done is express points why lipo is needed and if it will help the final results . This just reinforced my initial judgment of him, basically being a money hungry Dr.
Surgery didn’t take more than 20 minutes, got an antibiotic injection, he did lipo first, then cut out the gland and stitched it up. Of course if your case of gyno is more severe or have a lot of fat then yes, you will need gyno, but if you are a relatively fit individual you won’t need it. And yes, you will have lipo scars regardless of what bullshit any Dr tell you, go google it.

I was able to work after 2 days, it wasn’t advised but I had no option. Stiches came out 1 week after surgery date.

Regarding post surgery sessions.
I had one 4 months and 7 months. Even though I had appointments each time, I waited at least 1.5hrs each time I had a revision.
In the post surgery sessions he did not address any of my concerns – just said scarring will occur because of your skin tone, and once I expressed that it was still puffy, he said it was bruising....yes even after 7 months of the surgery he said it was bruising. I expressed my concerns if it was scar tissue or even some gland left. He just stared at his computer screen and ignored me.

I will upload some pictures, once I figure out how to, so you guys can have an idea.
Overall, the experience was shit, I would have paid extra to get it done by a Dr who knows how to run their practise, listen to patient concerns.
The problem with this surgery is that it is subjective, everyone will have different opinions on how the outcomes are. Obviously if you have experienced gyno and see it every day your perception of the physical appearance will be different to others. All you should be prepared for is that it will never turn out perfect or symmetrical.

Hope this helped, any real questions ill be happy to answer.

[Dr Daniel Lanzer]

This is Dr. Lanzer. I would like to first thank you for taking your time to leave a review. We always value feedback as we are always striving for ongoing excellence.
I must make a few corrections to some of the points in your comment though.
There are 2 main reasons why we do liposuction to the gland even when there is only a gland problem:
1. Because the gynaecomastia gland is a mixture of both fatty tissue and fibrous tissue, by performing liposuction to the gland we are able to significantly reduce the size of the gland - often by up to 90%. This means we can excise the gland through a much smaller incision.
2. liposuction helps free up the gland, detaching it from the surrounding tissue

Both of these benefits mean that we can excise the gland through a much smaller incision which results in less scarring and less complications.
It's our standard of practice to communicate these benefits with every patient but my sincerest apologies if this did not happen.

I should also let you know that we do not charge extra to treat complications. Though we rarely see any complications we would be more than happy to discuss a revision free of charge for you.
With regards to the blood test, we are well aware that hormone imbalances may lead to gynaecomastia but the blood tests we order are to look for blood disorders that may compromise the procedure.

Please be in contact with us. We strive to make all our patients 100% satisfied and would love the opportunity to afford you the same satisfaction.

As a side point gynaecomastia is the most common procedure I perform and we are talking about thousands and I appreciate how it can change ones life style. The method I perform was initiated by a Dermatologic Surgeon and that’s my specialist accreditation.

Kind regards,

Dr. Lanzer

[aocgamzin]

There are so countless doctors that perform it with only the tissue being removed....so your argument doesn't really make sense. A lot of the doctors on this forum and others conclude that liposuction is not needed for the procedure? Liposuction only needs to be done if sculpting is an issue or if someone if overweight?
As for scarring, liposuction 100% of the time will leave to scars. the incisions under the nipple are strategically placed to minimize the scarring, if you want to minimize scarring don't do liposuction ?
Looks like the procedure you carry out for your patients will always involve liposuction . This will normally lead to unequal amounts of fat being removed, hence you'll experience dents/grooves/dimples.
Not aesthetic at all
Not happy Jan lol