Three weeks post op, and am loving it

[qriosaboutsurgery]

     I had originally went to see my doctor about aquiring some prescription meds to combat existing gyno (from before puberty).   She would not prescribe any of these since they are not approved by the FDA for their use.  She did however go over possible side effects of each of the drugs that I had in mind.  She then set me up with an appt. with an endocrinologist. 
     My friend used to use roids and hooked me up with a legitimate site, with cheap prices.  I did a lot of research, but opted drugs because of all the horror stories I read from surgery.  The more I learned about the possible long term side affects (not to mention the short term affects that will happen) the more I got more nervous about taking them. 
     I decided to get a quote from Dr. Delgado, and it came to about $9,000.00 with some minor lypo around my love handle area.  I decided to go ahead and take the drugs, but I still had an appt. with the endocrinologist.  I went to the appt hoping that she would prescribe them to me so that i would be under the supervision of a doctor.  She would not however.  She took blood and urine tests to see if my problem was hormonal, so the she might put me on a hormone therapy treatment.  My hormone levels were right where they should be, and she said that my only option under a doctors care was in the plastic surgery dept.  I asked her about guys under going the knife and getting there gyno back very shortly after surgery.  She said that is possible if my hormones were out of whack, but that i had nothing to worry about.  She offered to set me up with a plastic surgeon, and said that she was not sure if my insurance covered it or not. I could see on her computer that it said anything in the plastic surgery was not covered.  I decided to go to an appt anyway.    I picked a surgeon that was the head of plastic and reconstructive surgery at that hospital. 
     I still planned on taking the drugs, but thought I would go just to see what they had to say, and maybe get a price quote. 
     I am covered under my parents insurance, as long as I am a full time student in college, which is Kaiser Permanente.  When I went to the appt. with the plastic surgeon, I learned that Kaiser covers this surgery, besides a co-pay.  And Kaiser does this because it is an actual diagnosis.  Once the endocrinologist diagnosed me with gynecomastia, it became covered, besides my $15.00 co-pay.  Yes, that is all that it cost me. It took a while to get booked with my surgeon for surgery, since my surgeon is the head of plastic and reconstructive surgery. 
     I did have a slight concern a few days later, and this is why.  Two days later when I removed my bandages, I was completely flat chested.  Which surprised me because i was always able to feel that i had some descent sized pecs under my puffy nipples, and small man boobs (for not ever working out).  But I was so stoked with the outcome I could not keep a smile off of my face.  About two days after that, when I was switching compression garments, I noticed that my nipples were slightly puffy again (very slightly), where as two days after the surgery they were loose skin.  I feared that my nipples were on there way to becoming big and puffy again.  I worried for a few days, but saw no more change.  A week later there was still no more change, and I began to relax.   I showed my ex-girlfriend three days post op, when I had a completely flat chest, and then about two weeks post op to see if she thought i was going back to normal.  She said that she did notice that my chest was not as flat, but saw no change in my nipples.  i still have not seen any change since the small amount that came back a few days later after surgery.
    I think that I could not have had a better job done with anyone.  There was absolutely no bruising, like I have seen in other pictures.  They were shaped way better than i thought they were going to be shaped.  I was able to almost eliminate my pain with extra strength tylenol, which I hear is not always the case.  And a week ago when I had the protective tape removed from the incisions, i could hardly see where they were made.
   I heard from others to not go in looking for perfection, so I went in with realistic expectations.  And this surgery was the best thing I have ever done.  I can finally go to the beach, (in two more weeks) without having to run into the water to make my nipples cold.  I will finally be able to be at a party or friendly gathering with cute girls, and not have to leave if everyone decides to go swimming or get into the hot tub.  I will finally be able wear thin shirts that don't hide my nipples.  I am loving it.
   In two or less weeks I stop wearing my compression garmet, and will take a few pictures, and then post them for those to see if they are interested.  As of right now, I have pictures from one week before surgery, and one week after.  I wish I had some of two days post op to show you the difference, but I did not take any.  In all the pictures I have, I am a lot heavier than normal.  I was taking a prescription drug, which makes me gain weight as a side affect.  And then as I  weaned off of that drug, i was in Europe for three weeks, eating at the very very least eight or nine thousand calories a day (no joke).  i am normally a very healthy eater, so i do know calories.
I usually weigh about 170 lbs.  In my pre op pics I am about 195 lbs.  But hopefully you can get the idea.  My advice to anyone going under the knife, is to select your surgeon carefully, and feel comfortable with them.  I know I did both of those and am very happy with my outcome.  I asked my surgeon if i could post his/her name online, and he/she asked me not to.  So I am sorry that i am going to respect that. but for those of you who can not afford surgery, find out about kaiser health care plans.  I asked kaiser about the costs of health insurance, incase my parents insurance providers were to be changed, and it would have cost me more than a $15.00 co pay, but it still would have been very very cheap, compared to the thousands of thousands of dollars that it would have someone some where else do it.  I hope that this was helpful to someone, because i know it would have been for me.
   

UPDATE: I HAVE PICS POSTED UP ON ANOTHER THREAD OF MINE, UNDER POST SURGERY AND HEALING AFTER SURGERY THREADS

[booty_frijoles]

Congrats on being gyne-free man! I'm happy for you

Sooo...I just started my journey to get rid of this so I was wondering on how you actually went about the whole insurance thing. I'm covered under my parents insurance too and I have Kaiser but I just recently went in and talked to my GP about it and he said that our insurance would more than likely not cover it.

I still haven't had a consult with a PS yet but I'm hoping to got one soon but now that you said that you got Kaiser to cover it, hopefully I wont have to drop the couple grand to get it done and pay my parents back for it.

I am a full-time college student (first-year), 18 years old, covered with Kaiser under my parents insurance. Please let me know how you got it covered. What did your doctor do??

[qriosaboutsurgery]

     By GP I am assuming you mean general practitioner.  And PS you mean plastic surgeon.    Here is how I went about it. 
     
     Like I said, I went to see my primary care physician first, about getting some certain drugs prescribed to me (which I am not going to name).  She was not going to prescribe them to me, and since that field was not her specialty, she told me that she would give the the list of possible side affects to the drugs, and if I wanted, set me up with an endocrinologist.  But that was all she could do. 
     I believe that she ordered blood and even  urine tests,for hormone levels, after our appt., so that the endocrinologist would have that information.  They tested for hormones that might indicate any abnormality.  The doctor who took the blood, double checked with my dr. what he was testing for, because there were so many hormones that only applied to pregnant women, or nursing women, and so on.
     I believe that seeing the endocrinologist was the vital step to having it covered by insurance.  She felt my "breast" tissue and diagnosed me with gynecomastia.  She said that I did not need hormone treatment, and that being a doctor at Kaiser that she could not prescribe me the drugs that I wanted.  My hormones were not at all the problem.  My estrogen was very low on the healthy scale for a man.  And my testosterone was on the high end of a healthy man.  She said that some mens breast tissue is just very receptive to estrogen in prepubescent boys, or boys going through puberty.  She said that my only option with Kaiser was to go under the knife.  I asked her about cases where the tissue grows back, and she said that there would be no reason that mine would, having normal hormone levels.  Now like I said, her computer screen said that surgery in the plastic surgery dept. was not covered by insurance.  But she told me that she wasn't sure, even know I saw her read that it was not.   She did not know that I read the screen along with her.
     I went for the appt. with the PS, and was told the soonest I could have it done would be two weeks, because i would have to get certain things out of my system like vitamin E, flax seed, Ibuprofen and so on.  I said well thats ok because I don't have any money saved up yet, and was still planning on taking the other meds through my online source.  She said that it was not going to cost that much and that I didn't have to worry about the money.  I asked her how much it costs, and she said that all depends on my co pay.  It could be $250.00 at the most, down to somewhere around $50.00 or so; or if I have good insurance even $15.00.  She said she could not see my co pay and that her scheduler would let me know if i was interested.  Come to find out that my out patient surgery co pay was the same as my co pay for a routine check up, or a bottle of prescription Ibuprofen,  $15.00.  Well I did ask her how much experience she had, and she did not have that much experience with gyno surgery.  I really liked her and felt very comfortable with her, but that was only half of the reason why I was going to choose a PS.
    I still did not know why it was covered, and i called up the PS's scheduler, and asked if I could have some minor lypo done around my lower abs.  She said that I would have to talk to the PS about that because it is not covered by insurance.  When I asked why my gyno surgery was covered and not the lypo, she said that it is covered because it is an actual medical diagnosis.
    I did my research on a lot of PS's at a number of Kaiser hospitals, before i found the one that I wanted to even see if he/she was the PS for me.  The PS was very professional and had a lot of experience with every kind of plastic and reconstructive surgery, including a lot of gyno procedures.  I made an appt which was about four or five months later, like i said it took a while to get in, and waited, then I had it done. 
     I hope that was helpful, because that is about everything that happened in the process.  If there is anything else I can answer for you let me know.  I would be more than happy to help if I can.