Hello Everyone,
First of all, I would like to thank everyone on these boards who asked the same questions I had, and eventually helped me make a decision that would change my life. As long as I could remember, I had breasts. As with almost everyone else here, they started to develop at around 13 or so, about the same time I started to gain a decent amount of weight. Throughout high school, I remember trying to hide them with multiple shirts or XXL shirts so no one knew what was going on underneath. Towards the end of my senior year of high school, I maxed out my weight at 230+ and I was about 5'8". I knew that I had to do something, so I changed my lifestyle behaviors and began to exercise a bit, and at the end of my freshman year of college, I weighed about 155lbs.
However, I noticed that no matter how much weight I lost, I still had breasts. The next few years were plagued with knee and spinal surgeries, which sidelined me for quite a while, and as a result, I began to gain weight back, reaching almost 200lbs in a matter of months. I was still wearing baggy clothes so no one would know about my issues, but it was becoming increasingly harder to hide it; I wouldn't go to the beach or go swimming, and I was very uncomfortable changing at the gym and in the locker room. Life didn't really seem like it was going to get better any time soon; no matter what I did, they were always there.
I had heard about gynecomastia years before I came to this forum, but I never really thought about it too much; I was a big guy and big guys had breasts. However, the subject came up randomly one night surfing the net, and I began to do some research on the topic. I found this forum and began to look at all the stories that were just like mine, and about a surgery they had gotten to get rid of their problem areas. After two surgeries in two years, I really wasn't feeling another surgery, but at that point, it seemed like my only option. After looking more into it, I found the name of Dr. Elliot Jacobs, a plastic surgeon in New York City who is a pioneer in this surgery and has created his own less invasive version of this surgery. Being a resident of New York, I decided that he was my go to man.
I thought my parents would never go for the idea of me having a surgery for something like this, but they were very supportive and knew that this had been a problem that I had been facing for years. I met with Dr. Jacobs during my winter vacation from college and he told me that I did have gynecomastia, and within a week or two, I scheduled my surgery for the end of Februrary 2008, only a month or so after my first visit.
The surgery was pretty quick, and relatively painless, probably because of the anesthesia. The first few days were very painful, and any slight movements would cause pain. After a few days, I was able to take off the bandages and get a glimpse of the results, which was a slightly swollen, sort of flatter chest. I wasn't expecting much considering that it was only 3 days after surgery, but I was very happy with what a saw. The next 4-6 weeks, I had to wear that compression wrap, which was probably the worst part of the surgery because it was very uncomfortable to wear and very hard to hide underneath my clothes, probably harder that the gynecomastia at first. Yet, it was essential for the healing process, and I got used to wearing it. After 4 weeks, I hit the gym, and I hit it hard. I was determined to lose some weight and sculpt my chest. I was ready to become a new person.
The next months came with very slow results, but that was to be expected as well. After a few months, I got the feeling back in my chest, and with that feeling came random stinging and pain in and around the nipple area. Even to this day, 6 months later, I am still sensitive in this area to an extent, but nothing like it was when the feeling came back. Slowly but surely, everything came into place, and I started to feel more confident about myself and my body. I told my friends about what I had done, and they all laughed at me first; however, they started to look at their own bodies and questioned whether or not they might have had it (They are all just paranoid). I've talked to family members about it and told them about how much the surgery has changed my life, and some of them are now contemplating getting it themselves.
I know what you are saying; the story is good...BUT WHAT ABOUT THE PICTURES...well, I posted up pictures of the evolution of my surgery over the past 6 months or so on Flickr, so here you go:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/29694990@N02/sets/72157606832959068/ Well, if I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't change anything. Dr. Jacobs is the real deal; his office is great and he is extremely knowledgable. Now I can wear clothes that fit me without having to worry about pulling down on my shirt or making sure that my chest is visible. Now I really don't have a problem with taking off my shirt; I don't have a ripped beach body, but hopefully by uping my gym time, I'll be able to reach that level.
I had my final check up with Dr. Jacobs on July 28th, and then moved down to Florida to start medical school. A change of scenery is always good, and I can show off the new body on the beaches down here all year long, after studying of course. Heck, who knows, maybe in 10 years or so, I'll be surgeon, helping people with the same problem that I had. Thanks for taking time to read my story, and hopefully if you are considering the surgery, it helped you along in your decision making. Take care.
-Legend
Topic: This is my story and I'm sticking to it (Read 5195 times)
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