Concerns....

[London_boy]

Hi Everyone

I've been keeping an eye on this forum for months now but have never posted before now.

I've suffered from gyne since the age of 14 (I'm now 28) and instead of doing anything about it, I've hidden it away and tried to forget about it, something I'm sure we can all relate to !!

Having stumbled across this site, I realised that I wasn't the only person to suffer from this and there were loads of other people in the same boat as me. So having read what everyone had to say, I booked myself a consultation with Mr Levick back in February and now I'm booked in for the op in August......

But now I'm starting to have second thoughts having read what a few of you have said over the past few weeks especially Taz, Yorkshireman, Chorlton etc expressing their concerns over the development of scar tissue, contouring and swelling post op.

I'm realistic about what I want to achieve as anything would be better than what I've got at the moment but to those of you who unhappy with the results, if you could turn back the clock, would you still have had the op with Levick or would you have thought about using another surgeon (as I am..) ? And are you happier now than you were with gyne ?

Sorry for the long rambling post, but your opinions and any words of advice/reassurance really would be appreciated !

[Yorkshireman]

Hi

Its too early for me to say if my op has been a success or not.  I am still very optimistic that time will heal all, I guess I am just being impatient, and its not pleasant seeing yourself in a worse state than pre-op!

If my swelling goes away(which I sincerely hope it will!), I think I will be a very happy customer, however if it remains I will be a very worried chappy....

[doddy]

Hello. It's natural to be nervous, I certainly was.

However, for all the people who may be a bit unhappy (if Chortlton and Yorkshireman actually are..), there are loads of happy customers with Levick. Read through the old pages here and people's experiences. You're in great hands.

I'm about 11 days post op with him now, and my life has got so much better. Seriously!

Good luck.

[sydneyc]

Hi,

I think alot of the frustration some people feel is completely natural. Many of us have become experts at hiding this condition and in the adrenalin rush (and it really does feel like that) of coming clean and contemplating surgery, the temptation is to expect all to be right within moments of the treatment. I fully sympathise with those who feel the initial results are not as great as hoped, but having visited 3 surgeons in making up my mind who to go with, all have heavily stressed the need to take a slightly longer term view of this being fixed. I really hope the slight back steps some people feel they have taken is purely a slight meander as the body heals itself. I really hope so.

In terms of Levick, I had my consultation a few weeks ago and am due to have surgery next week(!). I have no doubts, partly as a result of the wealth of recommendations here and elsewhere, but mainly having spoken to him at length on several occasions. Like all, he has stressed the need to  be patient after the procedure, but he has been the only surgeon to answer all my questions and put my mind at rest re' the procedure and possible results. I think the most compelling element of my chats with Levick was the fact that he does not recognise this operation as a purely cosmetic procedure, in terms of reasons to have it done and indeed in his approach to the actual event. He was clear in spelling out that this is not a run of the mill lyposuction. I appreciated both his honesty and his recognition of the issues involved, both physiologically and pyschologically.

In my humble and limited opinion, I feel either Paul Levick or Alex Kardis (may have spelt that wrong) in London are the strongest - or certainly the most experienced - surgeons to carry out this procedure.

As I am in myself this coming week (after 25 years of suffering...) I will endeavour to post afterwards to give you more insight into the whole thing.

Best wishes


SC

[serg]

Howdy London_boy

I'm from London also and had my op a while ago. There are a wealth of recommendations for the best surgeons, so you know you'll be in good hands. I had my op about 6 weeks ago and am absolutely delighted with the results.

Take a look at the thread titled "clothes" further down this board. May give you some encouragement.

Serg

[London_boy]

Hi Guys

I appreciate you all taking the time to respond ! Thanks for all your support, you have put my mind at rest and I can now start looking forward to August......

Pink t-shirt anyone.....?

[London_boy]

PS. Best of luck next week sydneyc !

[Chorlton]

London_boy,

Firstly, welcome to the board.  Please keep posting.  The more people sharing their experience will give future gyne suffers infor to digest before takng the plunge if they so choose to.

When I was deciding to go for the op i browsed this board as well and picked on Levick as he was the most talked about (and did the most ops).  If I was to redo the op I would also go with Levick.  Not due to any loyalty but the fact that he has been slated and praised and the praise has out weighed the negative feedback. Where there has been negative feed back I have made my own decision on how important to my decision that has made. I think a healthy amount of feed back is good.  Of the other surgeons there has been good feed back but little of it.  Just my train of though by the way.  No disrespect to any other surgeons intended.

If you look at my pics and read my postings you will see that I am not completely satistisfied with my chest at the moment.  But let me put this more into perspective mate.  My Chest will not win any muscle competitions neither would my stomach get a six pack prize.  Whilst my chest is relatively flat, when I hunch it sticks out.  Levick did say that this was scar tissue and excess skin.  In the past I have lost weight and seen a shrinkage of my gyne but only slight.  The op was a quick fix removing a lot of gland and fat so I would expect the skin to take some time to contract fully back.  And I am talking months. I am only 2.5 months in. As with the scar tissue the more I massage it the sooner it will go away.  I massage between 5 and 15 mins a day at the moment and can feel the tissue reducing.  From all the posts in the past we know that we are in this for the long haul - 12 months min.  And we know the phases - OP, flat chest, swelling, fat chest, scar tissue, massage, then final result.  The average time is 12 months but people heal at different rates.  

Back to getting things in perspective - My current chest is a million times better than before.  Never before in my life (actually probably pre - gyne) have I worn so many t-shirts.  I don't bother when the wind blows, I can stand and stick my chest out, I don't have to hold a cushion or my arms infront of my chest when sat in a chair with others.  Basically my life has changed.  Not just physical reactions to situations but mentally my mind is at rest as I am not constantly thinking of ways to hide the gyne in different situations.  So that is a positive ain't it.

Yes I have scar tissue and a little excess skin that fingers crossed will go.  I mentioned it in my post so that people can look back on my posts and see that I had a gripe about it but 6 months later it was fixed.  I will have a consultaion with Levick at 6 months and discuss it with him.  So then we will know how the problem (as little as it is) will be resolved.

Plus I hope to put some more pics on my link so people can make their own minds up about the result.  At the moment my camera has been sent back to Pentax for a little fix so it will probably early May when I post the next pics.

Remember gyne is in the eyes of the beholder!  One can only say themselves when they are fixed.

Hope this helps.

Chorlton

[AJP]

Wise words Chorlton mate.

[Taz]

London Boy, chill out! Chorlton and Yorkshiremen are both very recently post op, it will take months to see the final results. Any scar tissue/bumps they have are expected at their stages of recovery.

Its possible that one week you look a mess and the next everything has sorted itself out!

[London_boy]

But looking back through your previous posts, you don't seem happy with the results 20 months post op ?

I'm sure I'm worrying unnecessarily but I imagine we've all had these doubts pre op ?

[AJP]

I'm sure I'm worrying unnecessarily but I imagine we've all had these doubts pre op ?

We had doubts pre-op, we have doubts post-op, and I'm sure there aren't many people out there who have not had one single instance of concern.

We all care about how our chests look - that's why we're here talking about it - many of us having had procedures in order to be happier about how our chests look. Bearing this in mind, surely you agree that it is natural to be concerned about any number of things. "Do I really need an op at all?", "What happens if it doesen't work?", "I heard that Mr X isn't a good surgeon, should I go to him?" etc, etc.

There's only one thing you can do, and that is to be as confident as possible in any decision you make. Whether it be if you have an op at all, who you go with, or whatever, be sure. And also, accept that concern comes with the territory - we're not talking about a decision over which flavour pizza to have.

All the best.

[doddy]

we're not talking about a decision over which flavour pizza to have.

I learnt this at my peril. I was literally just saying "Ham and Mushroom" when this guy stuck a load of anesthetic in me and by the time I woke up, my chest was flat. It was truly bizarre.




























I'll get me coat.

[AJP]

 

[Patientx]

London_boy, dont ignore the neg posts.

I would like to hear from one, just one patient that is pleased with Levick's results after having had their op, longer than 12 months ago. I'm sure there are some, but I haven't seen one yet.

And Taz, when are you going to see Levick, or have you been recently - what answers did he give to your questions? I'm really interested to hear, please get back in touch...