NHS surgery this monday!!!

[creative]

Hi Woodi,

Funny you mention this...i'm feeling the same way at the moment!   It feels as though there hasn't been a great deal of difference, apart from no puffy nipples. I do however remember my chest being pretty flat when waking up post op. I didn't have lipo myself so am confident there must be fat in this area.

The best advice i can give you is not to panic. You are only 1 week post op which is very, very early. In fact i'd put it down to swelling because your immediate post-op result seemed good and you had lipo + excision. If it is bothering you, ask your surgeon. Or wait until the next consultation with him and see what it looks like then.

As for fat...yes i think it can be burnt. It will get increasingly difficult to burn the last remnants of fat though i.e. stubborn fat but it should not be impossible - even though it may feel it! I've read a few articles that have said; while lipo is brilliant for removing stubborn fat, it is a myth that it is the only way. I guess you just have to keep at the diet and exercise. Prior to surgery i was noticing big improvements but i feel i may have put some of it back on having done no exercise for the last few weeks!

Anyway, as you correctly say, it is important the excess gland was removed because this won't allow you to have that flat chest.

All the best

[Woodi]

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW!

Amazing! just went to get my dressings taken off a week a day since the surgery, and it is the first time I have seen my chest post surgery! Went there quite depressed thinking I had a load of fat/gland left that would need taking out, but it turned out all to just be bandages!

my results are 10/10 for me, i cannot believe, it does not look like my chest has shrunk, but that my whole chest has been removed and replaced with a different one, like a chest version of the movie face off!

If I am really picky, there is a small crater (very small) just to the right of the right nipple, but this can only be noticed after viewing hard from several angles. I know that I will probably have to deal with a bit more swelling along the way over the next few weeks, but if the end result ends up anything like this it is much better than anything i could of expected.

The scars are only really noticeable at the bottem of the nipple, but this will go in time.

There was hardly any pain if any having the dressings taken off! In fact the through the process so far, I have not encountered any pain above a 1 or 2 on a scale out of 10, nothing I would not take over a nettle sting!

Will update more thoroughly later but it looks like the NHS in my case has done a fantastic job, I rate what the legend of a surgeon I had with any of the work of a Karidis etc. The guy does private ops as well people should look into it.

good luck with the system though anyone who goes through with it, because sometimes it works out well, really well! 

[thetodd]

thats great news mate, craters and stuff may go with time! It takes the body ages to heal fully.

If youve got any pre/post op pics please post them cause it really helps people thinking of surgery. Good luck with the healing process get yourself some bio oil if you havent already for massaging about 3 weeks in. Your chest will start to swell soon if it hasnt already so dont get disheartened it will calm down a few weeks laters!

go on asos and do some shopping mate, youl love the freedom

Good luck

[wantridofgyno17]

Just read your post about the results, so happy for you! Sounds like you got a good deal out of it all!!!  Wonder if it's possible to request to have the surgery done by the same doctor you did, even though I live about 2-3 hours away? Anyone know what the process is if you want to do something like this on the NHS?

[creative]

Just read your post about the results, so happy for you! Sounds like you got a good deal out of it all!!!  Wonder if it's possible to request to have the surgery done by the same doctor you did, even though I live about 2-3 hours away? Anyone know what the process is if you want to do something like this on the NHS?

Unfortunately, it would seem quite unlikely due to the difference in primary care trusts. It's a shame things aren't quite that simple...hence the term 'post code lottery.' You can always ask your gp about this though.

[D24]

Hi woodi,

The compression garment you talk about sounds exactly the same garment i had on after surgery. Is it more of a band that wraps round you that is elasticated with a velcro part runing from the top to the bottom that fastens at the front?
If so just a word of advice from my experiance, you'll find after a few weeks of taking it on and off for showering it will loose the velcro grippieness. Also when i was sitting down i found it tended to fold in the middle and loose its elesticity gradually, still tightish but not like it is when you wake from surgery. I now wish i'd bought one myself but followed the surgeons advice to the letter.

[Woodi]

Thanks for the advice d24, that sounds just like my garment, I have noticed it is starting to lose a little compression and showing one or two of the other problems you mentioned. So earlier today I ordered a post surgery garment from that holistic garment company. Just a bit worried how the tightness will effect my hyperhydrosis, everything about the surgery and post surgery has been fine except my armpits! Had the hair shaved off them and they have gone haywire, they are more bruised and discolured than my chest right now, but that is nothing to do with the surgeon.

There is nothing wrong in asking (wantridofgyno17) your gp if you could be reffered to my area, but if you are 2/3 hours away it is not likely you will be in the same primary health care trust, and knowing the way the system still is, it is unlikely they will grant it.

But that said i would defo try out the NHS route, and study the primary health care trust your area is in, (certain trusts are more likely to fund the op). + every trust normally has one top mega hospibital that is much more likley to have a specialized plastic surgery unit, and experinced gyno op doctors.

If you have the right sort of GP (and this is fundemental to your case, as he/she will need to do a bit of pleading on your behalf), you will have a choice of local hospitals in your health care trust to go to, to be reffered to a surgeon. I had a choice of 3, but i picked the option where i had to wait the longest for it (3 months instead to 2 weeks), the reason? because it is much better to be patient for a top quality surgeon in a renown hosbital than the opisite, the results are going to be much better and I rekon if I had taken the other two options I would have been turned down for surgery, because those units did not specialize in it!

[Woodi]

Sorry I posted the last post to soon!

I was going to say that when seeing your GP, I found it best just to be honest and go through all the effects it is having on you, and try and think of ways that this can be used for your case. Thus have lines ready like it is the first thing you think of when you wake up and the last thing when you go to sleep, of which for me was all true.

A good GP should at least refer you. Anyway good luck!

[wantridofgyno17]

Well I've been to speak the GP the other week and she's refferred me to a local hospital which has a plastic surgery department which is a good start, but not sure who my consultation/appointment is with yet, whether or not it's a surgeon etc doesn't mention on the appointment thing, any way of finding out?

And how many visits to doctors / consultations etc did you have until you got the go ahead for surgery, and how long did you have to wait after that for the operation?

Thanks

[Woodi]

Hi wantridofgyno, After 2/3 meetings with GP for blood tests etc, I was reffered to a the surgeon I eventually had, I had to wait a month for that meeting and then he agreed to do the surgery pretty much then, but I had to wait another 2 and a half months for the surgery.

When you meet consultant/surgeon they will throw the standard NHS stuff at you (they are required to), they will stress the potential side effects, problems, etc. Of course from this website you will know all about that, but try not to show any sign of hesitaion over surgery for these reasons, be very pro surgery and explain the problems again. Hopefully they should put you through!

Btw did the letter just say you were meeting a doctor or someone from his team, because I origanally went in and just saw one of my surgeons junior consultants, who then called in the head surgeon, so do not be put off if you meet someone more junoir intially.

It is good though the hospital has a specialized plastic surgery department, it will probably have a website of all the plastic surgeons in the department and you can get a better idea of who specializes more in your area. Sadly the NHS do not really have any gyno revison only specailists, but best case senario is that you get a well qaulified plastic surgeon who while doing alot of his work on female breast reduction does a fair number of gyno cases a year, thats what I got! I also found it helped saying that anything the surgeon could do for me would be an improvement etc. etc.

Good luck with the consultation!

[Woodi]

2 week post op update...

I am still to see any real change on the chest, still as flat as pancake, although healing process is rolling on, scars scabbing etc.

But i am still waiting for the swelling, as I have not experienced any yet.

Does anyone know when I should typically expect this swelling to come?

[creative]

Perhaps not at all! Everyone heals differently and surgeons use different techniques when it comes to lipo depending where the fat needs to be removed. I personally think you are in the clear in regards to swelling but scar tissue might continue forming for a little while - not sure if you can feel that yet?

Other than that, your results sound fantastic. Don't suppose we could see some pics?

[kingboob]

2 week post op update...

I am still to see any real change on the chest, still as flat as pancake, although healing process is rolling on, scars scabbing etc.

But i am still waiting for the swelling, as I have not experienced any yet.

Does anyone know when I should typically expect this swelling to come?

You might be very lucky, you might not experience any significant swelling, not everyone does........if you didn't have much/aggressive lipo my guess is you might get away without any bad swelling.

I find the swelling tends to be most visible between weeks 1 to 6, gradually getting better as time goes on.   A bit of puffiness (is that a word?) that comes and goes can last up to a year though.

Another thing with the swelling is that you might not notice you have had swelling until it goes down and your results look even better than before..... if that happens then it is a real added bonus.

[Woodi]

I reckon you could be right kingboob, I think there might be swelling there that I am just not picking up on, because the results are already 10 times better than before.

I got big side problem at the moment though, guess what my household just got...swine flu.

I know its not really a big deal, but am worried how it might effect the healing process, + as I said before my immune system and white blood cell count is not the best, along with the fact that my body just took a major op 2 weeks ago!

Am yet to catch it! have barricaded myself in my room with this laptop, it looks like the days are going to go even slower!

When I can free myself from this room I will get some pics down, but that could be in a week!

[linkin]

Hi Woodi,
Sounds like you have had a brilliant experience with the NHS. I'm from the same area as you, so I think I'm going to go to my GP and see if I can get referred to Mr Malata. I had seen him on the private hospital website and saw that an area of interest for him was Gyne so to be able to get him on the NHS would be a result.
One question though, do you think the main reason you got referred and then operated on was because of the gyne being a side effect of the anti-convulsant you were taking? Do you think they would have done all of this for you if it had just occurred naturally?
I'm considering going to my GP and explaining all but to be honest I feel it might be in vain.....I suppose there's no harm in trying though as I'm not in a position to go private at the moment.
Have you got any before/after pics that you could post? Cheers