Good news

[NoChance]

Bed rest.  I know its hard, especially if you have a career, family etc.  The majority of people who run into complications/ take longer to heal are those who push it trying to return to a normal life asap. 

Only other thing I would suggest is exercise and have as healthy as a diet as possible leading upto surgery (get that body fat as low as possible), as the lower your body fat, the easier the surgery is to do for him (get as much gland out as possible) and the faster you will recover (I have no brusing what so ever.

Getting the drains pulled out after having them in my body for almost a week was an extremely painful and more than the pain was just a really weird feeling (feeling plastic tubes snaking around under your skin as they get pulled out).

[Shattered_Nyte]

NoChance,
How did they look when you had the drains taken out? Are you happy with the results?
Also Im counting the days. 14 days and counting

[NoChance]

when the drains came out, they look pretty good.  I now have normal defined pecs.    I know I shouldnt have, but I couldnt help it and I tried on a t-shirt that I never would have left my house in before... and it looked great.

On the left side, you cant even tell I had a drain, on the right side there is a slight scab/mark that will probably need some time to fade.  In regards to my nipples, its hard to say how they will look because the stiches and steritape is still on.  Years of huge glands stretching the skin have left me with a bit of loose skin, but I was told it should tighten up more over the next few months.

I think you will be really happy.  The hardest part will be not pushing it to get back to regular life, even if you feel fine as Dr. Haugrud told me thats where most the damage happens.

[Shattered_Nyte]

You need to post before and after pics dude.

[Shattered_Nyte]

No Chance,
How is the chest doing? Give us all a update.

[NoChance]

Sorry about the delay on the reply

In regards to posting pictures, I dont feel comfortable posting pictures as I have quite a few unique tatoos that if someone who knows me saw the pictures even if the face was blurred they would know its me.  Because not many in my life know about how I used to have really bad gyno, I would prefer to keep it this way, and the last thing I need is the "before" pictures of me circulating the internet.

In regards to my recovery, the pain is almost gone.  Its more of a uncomfortable feeling if I accidently roll onto my side/stomach in the middle of the night.  And if I smoke/drink I get some pain in the incision areas so I've held off on that as much as possible for the time being.   Upon Dr. Haugrud's request at my last checkup, I've began massaging the area as you can feel a thin, small strip of scar tissue behind where the incisions were made along each of the nipple.  My massaging hasnt gotten too vigourous yet, as I get sore after doing it for a bit, but still if anyone has suggestions on proper massaging I would greatly appriciate it.

Most importantly, how it looks ... The incision on the nipples have almost completely healed already, and you cant even tell something was done there unless you look really close.  For the incisions where the drains came out on either side, there is still some small redness circulating a pinpoint mark, that I was told will take longer to go away (still not very noticiable).  Because my nipples were stretched for so long due to huge glands, they had quite a few wrinkles initially along with some loose skin in the area that kind of worried me, but over the last week I can see that the skin/nipples appear to be tightning up (only one small wrinkle in each and my nipples are getting smaller and smaller every day and now look normal sized opposed to the humongo old lady nipples I had before surgery. 

The hardest part for me has been getting off the glue left behind by all the steri strips and medical tape.  There are globs of glue circulating both nipples and I cant seem to get them off.  I thought simply showering for a week or so and it would come off on its own, but no luck, the exact same amount is there.  The last few days, I've tried everything I can think of besides vigorously scrubbing the area with rubbing alcohol which would still be too painful to do at this time, so any suggestions there would be appricaited.

To anyone that is contemplating the surgery I would say go for it.  For so many years, I held off simply because the thought of what they did in a bilateral excision made me sick to my stomach (I saw one too many surgery pictures).  The pain you go through for a few days is soo worth it.  The hardest thing for me so far has been wearing t-shirts I would have been too self conscious to wear before.  Despite the fact I have a normal defined male chest now, I still suffer in the self confidence area, and I have to remind myself sometimes that I can now wear this shirt now etc when dressing.  I'm so used to wearing a undershirt and 1-2 shirts over it, now when I go out wearing just a thin t-shirt it feels weird (but in a good way).  I find myself out in public forgetting I had the surgery quite a bit, and I still accidently do the "pulling" down on my shirt once in while as many gyno sufferers do to try to hide it.

If anyone has any other questions I'll try my best to answer them through this thread or private messages.  I know most guys disapear from these threads soon after their surgery, but I'll try to stick around for a while, as this site was amazing in not only letting me know that I'm not alone, but in providing the support and direction in which to do actually something about my gyno.  A big thanks to anyone who ever replied in one of my threads, and especially to Grandpa Bamboo.  Just over a year ago when I first started trolling these pages, I never thought I would be able to be free of gyno.  You gave me the first push I really needed and were always the first to reply when I started any thread asking questions over the course of over a year.  So I thank you for that.

[outshined]

wow.... i've been looking for a new Haugard thread.... thank you so much for all the updated info you guys.. I'm 23 and I feel the timing is perfect to finally get this done... i don't have a lot of body fat and you actually can't really notice my gyno with clothes on... but its still very noticeable and probably surprising to most people when they see it.. your advice on getting rid of as much body fat as possible is very motivational as I didn't fully realize how important this was... I had my consult back in Feb. so I think i'll probably have my surgery with Haugard in Sept - Oct.. which gives me good time to try and get in as great of shape as possible for this!

Also.. great to know the pain was worth it.. I think the hardest will be telling family about this.. were you very open about it?  I will have to tell my boss obviously... which will be weird... but at least I can work from home in my line of work... anyways thanks for all the info and im very glad to hear everything went ok for you!

[NoChance]

Outshined, your situation seems very similar to mine.  Low bodyfat, in good shape, but still have gyno for some reason.  I myself thought if my arms got jacked enough and I had visable abs my gyno wouldnt look as bad.  Something to take note if you want to get in great shape...As your body fat gets lower, its going to look worse and worse and seem like its really stretching the skin/nipple area.  Before surgery that was the hardest part for me, despite getting in better shape, my appearence in the chest area was getting worse and worse until it got to the point even with a baggy xxL tee, you could still clearly tell I had gyno.

The body fat factor plays a huge role.  The lower your body fat, the easier it is for the docs to see the working area, the less work they have to do on lipo, and they can just focus on getting all the gland out, while leaving you with a normal contour. The less chance there is of them leaving too much gland behind as well. You have plenty of time to get in shape, but I would suggest focusing more on your diet than exercise, as you will see better results in the short time you have.

The pain was so worth it, the worst part for me was the feeling of waking up after a surgery and throwing up right away.  Luckily the nurse guessed that would happen and was standing beside me with a barf bin waiting for me to wake up.  This is one thing you will notice for sure, all the nurses love Dr Haugrud, and they seem to go the extra mile for his patients.  Once you get home, your given enough percocets and t3's that pain should not be a problem.  At home, the biggest challege will be lying in bed for a week or however long it takes you to feel better.  I will warn you, on about the 3rd day you will wake up feeling great and think you can return ... dont push it as you may give yourself a hemotoma.  How many chances are you gonna get to relax in bed for a week?  Take it easy.

I know what you mean about telling your parents.  Some dont understand at all, some think you making something out of nothing, etc.  My mom is very understanding while my dad is the strong silent dont complain about your problems as there is someone worse off than you type.  I broke the news to her alone, while I showed her some gyno sites, and played her a recent well done documnetary on gyno on youtube.  Haha it was almost as if I had a planned presentation to give her including pictures and everything.  She broke the news to my Dad on their own time.  Everyone one else in my immediate/close family was told I have a small cyst in my chest that will need a procedure to get it removed.

Your boss doesnt have to be told anything.  One thing I love about Haugrud is how he realizes the emotional impact this can have.  For me he was willing to write a letter getting me time off, and he said I could pick the excuse and he would write whatever I want.  We went with the large cyst in the chest thing, because that seemed to make the most sense as you will have bandages on your chest and walk around gingerly for a while. 

[outshined]

Yeah I remember a couple years ago I did the beef up thing.. and I actually didn't mind the gyno as much back then.. but it was still there.. I was just fooling myself... it is especially noticeable when I stop working out for a period of time and slim down a bit.

As for exercise you would say lay off the chest workouts for now? and stick more to the cardio?  That's sort of how my workouts have been this year anyhow.  I figure I'll get back into weights after the surgery and work more on core, cardio and diet for now.

As for the throwing up part... I have friends who have gotten out of general after surgery who have said the same thing.   That's the worst part of it all is waking up after... but I'm more than ready for it.  As for being bed ridden.. how much CAN you do?  You could still move around enough to say change and cook and all that hey?  Just a bit of trouble in the shower?

Very good to know about the letter.. I think I will do the same thing for people at work.  They really don't need to know.

Also, I have read in the forums about gyno coming back... but I remember when I asked Haugard he clearly said that I don't have to worry about this..   Did you ask him about this at all?

thanks again for all the info!   

[NoChance]

I dont see why you wouldnt work out your chest.  Lifting weights to work out the chest, will only lower your bodyfat/build pec muscle up if anything.  Bigger pecs might make the glands look worse, but only until you get them removed.  Besides that, all that will happen will you'll get stronger/bigger.  Then you'll have some nice pecs to finally show off when you do get them removed, and you wont have hindered your upper body strength gains by taking the summer off

About being bed ridden, your going to be 'numbed' out from the percocets and you will have very uncomfortable drains coming out your sides and clipped onto the inside of your shirt (how long you are bed ridden depends on how long Dr. Haugrud determines you need the drains left in, for me it was 6 days).  For me honestly I needed a lot of help the first few days. This is not something I would suggest taking on alone, you will need help. I'm talking pretty much someone waiting on you the first few days while you lay in bed drugged out.  I would seriously consider making sure you have a tv/cable/entertainment set up where ever the bed will be because this gets boring real fast. I wouldnt recomend cooking as you shouldnt even be standing too much initially.  Changing you can do, but even that is a challenge when you have drains coming out of your body making it very awkward (they clip to your clothes so when you change/shower you have to hold them, there isnt enough slack for you to drop them without tearing them out ).  The shower was really challenging for me as you cannot lift your arms up and the last thing you want with drains coming out of you is to slip/fall.  Luckily I have this big shower stall, and I put a plastic lawn chair in it, and kinda bathed myself in there sitting in the chair for the first week.  Hopefully you and your help can stand the sight of a lot of blood as well, as you will have to 'milk' your drains every 8 hours until they are removed (6 uncomfortable days for me).

I asked Dr. Haugrud about gyno coming back as well and got the same reply as you. For me it was mainly because I smoke weed, planned to continue to do so post-op, and there is a lot of government induced misinformation circulating about this topic.  I had this gyno years before I ever puffed a joint so I know it wasnt the cause for my case just as its not the cause for anyone's case.  Dr. Haugrud told me he takes almost all the gland out and only leaves behind a small slice to the nipple wont cave in.  What he leaves behind is not enough to amount to anything. 

No problem about the info, I'm glad to answer any more questions you might have.

[Shattered_Nyte]

Hi all,
Well I had my surgery on the 10th of July. Man I tell you, I wish I had done this years ago. The pain isnt as bad as I thought it would be, its just a mild irriation. When I woke up from my operation, I had a burning sinsation that went away about an hour or so.

The first night at the hospital it was really uncomfortable. You really want to take things slow. I was doing everything myself like eating, peeing, walking, and it wasnt bad at all.

[Grandpa Bambu]

Congrats dude!

GB

[outshined]

Good to hear man!  I'm really trying to be patient with this... your news is making that harder

[Shattered_Nyte]

You know what they say, "Good things come to those who wait." Beleave me you will be glad you did it. You have nothing to worry about. I had hardly no pain, and the hospital staff was great from the time I arrived to to time I left. If there is anyone that wasnt more info, Just ask!!!

[outshined]

How bad was your gyno if you don't mind me askin?  do you have before and after pics?  I have a fairly regular sized body frame but hardly any body fat... which is great... for everything but the gyno... like I was mentioning earlier... its hard to even notice mine with a shirt on but once the shirts off its very noticeable just because of what it looks in proportion to the rest of my body.

I'm hoping that because there isn't as much to remove as most that the healing process will be shorter!