chest muscles post-op

[Robin_G]

Hi folks

I'm about two and a bit weeks post-op now

When I took the bandages off I was pretty flat, although over the past week my chest has filled out quite a bit

Nothing like before but it is more prominent again now

Thing is, I'm thinking there could be various explanations

If I jump up and down it doesn't move so its not fat,  and its hard to the touch

Could this be swelling or scar tissue perhaps?

The other thing that occurs is that it might be muscle? I hammered chest exercises at the gym for 1.5 years straight to see if I could have one last go at getting rid of the gyne without surgery

Appearance wise it seemed to make it worse. In fairness if I tensed my chest it could give the appearance of having pecs but when relaxed it just looked like moob again, and if anything larger than before

Could it be that with the gyne removed I am just left with some muscle that I've never had the opportunity to have actually seen before?

[phantom]

Robin, here is an analogy:

I have short dark hair, a goatee, brown eyes, olive skin, full lips, wide nose.

The above description gives you an idea of what I look like but would you be able to recognise me?  It's difficult to judge what you are describing without seeing it.  It sounds like you have the same post-op anxieties as most guys do.  Neither of us was a straight forward 'little bit of puffy gland' that needed snipping out.  We both had a significant amount of fat removed too.

You will have quite a different shape to your chest - eventually.  You will still have some swelling in certain parts and 'new' parts you will not have seen before.  Because you worked on your chest for so long before your op (as I did) it will look different to how it would have done if you did not do any work on it.

Would you be happy to show us some before and after pics as this would give us a better idea of your description.  I will be adding some post op pics on Friday.  Of course there is a significant difference, but at present I am not 'perfect'.  I don't anticipate being perfect at any time in the future, but I think I will have to wait until at least week 12 before I can judge where I am at.  It's at that point I intend to go back to Mr L for his opinion.

Hope that helps you a little :-/

[orrible]

Robin G, i am experiening the exact same thing as im sure you will have seen. I used to train really hard and had solid pecs. I think now that i have solid pecs but still somthing on top, whether that is scar tissue, fluid, or gyne related substance? Bottom line for me though is that it does still look like gyne unless tensed, and even then still somewhat. This isnt however how solid pecs behave. I know a few bodybuilders who have huge chests and they sit firm all the time and dont resemble gyne in the slightest. This is the shape of proper pecs ) but mine appear somewhere more inbetween ) - > shapewise.

[webster]

Stonecold, U nailed what i got too, mainly on LHS. As u say if it looks a bit like gynecomastia it might aswell be gynecomastia... A bit of a p*sser really, innit?

If you find something that helps LET US KNOW.
Thanks mate. Webster

[Robin_G]

Yeah, fair point

The bruising is *finally* going down so I'll try and get a couple of post-op pics up later in week

Got a couple of pre-ops on my digital camera as well although annoyingly I got new pc and can't find the software I need to install on it to transfer pics from camera to pc

I'll get it sussed though

To be honest I'm not unduly concerned at this stage, certainly not until the healing is much further down the line and I've been able to start going to the gym again

I'm already better off than I was shape wise anyway which is at least a start, and its early days for everything else

[orrible]

Webster, short of getting a successful revision im not sure a great deal can be done other than miraculous healing. The only thing i think would be advantageous would be doing incline dumbell chest presses. This would build up the upper chest and go some way to balancing out the lower chest. Its far from ideal though becuase i strongly believe that if you workout you must hit each muscle group equally. Also having had the surgery we really shouldnt be needing to resort to other ways to correct our problems. Its a real drag i know

[webster]

Robin_G don't let my previous moaning post get U down. You're so newly post-op any swelling is likely to go down in the coming months.

As for me, well I'm about to go out for my Monday night swim. I didn't swim for 10 years pre-op. It's easy to forget how far I've come when gynecomastia has made me so body concious.  

I read a wise post on this board someplace advising post op patients to only look at closely at their chests weekly. That way improvements are clearer and you don't give yourself a headf*ck every 5 mins.

Good advice, but I can't help scrutinizing at least once a day anyway....

ATB.  Webster.

[Robin_G]

Yeah no worries Webster, cheers

I decided early on to reserve judgement for a long time re the final results anyway, and I'm genuinely only posting questions out of curiosity at this stage

I'm only just about to start doing some very gentle massage and just figured there was no point massaging stuff I thoguht was swelling or scar tissue only for it to turn out to be muscle

Will get the pics up once I've sussed them, although I reckon with some things like this the only sure fire way is to be able to feel them and know what you're feeling for

I'm still in my post-op honeymoon period anyway re finally being able to wear what I like, so I'll save the stressing about the detail for later  

[phantom]

Robin_G

Whatever brand of camera you have, go to their homepage on the internet, you might be able to download and install the software you need direct from the website.

Phantom