Opp with Karidis yesterday, my experience & wondering if I've got the record.

[HiddenHorror]

Morning All

As the title said I had my opp yesterday. I've not posted on here before, but have used it as a valuable source of information especially when choosing my surgeon. So I thought I'd give something back and post my experiences for the others who follow me.

I first developed gyne in primary school after having my tonsils out, I don't know if it was related but I quickly gained weight and was fat by the age of 9 with a nice pair of moobs to match. I grew up with the condition and I can obviously say it has strongly influenced my life to this point, from the hurtfull comments to shopping for shirts with heavy material and pockets on the front to slouching all the time, you'll all know where I'm coming from.
When I was 19 I became a long distance runner and my weight dropped to about 10.5 stone. This was the only time of my life where I almost got rid of the problem. At 25 the weight had risen to around 14 stone and I decided to investigate the surgical options. This was the early days of Gyne operations and I approached Transform in Manchester which was not a good experience and didn't leave me wanting the opp. Interestingly about a month after the consultation the surgeon I had seen appeared on Panorama in an exposé of dodgy cosmetic surgeons, lucky escape there I think.


About 4 years ago at the age of 34 my weight had ballooned to just under 17 stone and I decide enough was enough and joined a gym with the intention of getting rid of the problem. I really enjoy going to the gym and it has changed my life and health greatly for the better. I go about 2 to 4 times a week for 90 mins and do 60/40 cardio weights. Unfortunately I haven't managed to control my eating as well as I should and although I have lost 2 stone and gained muscle I cannot seem to tone up my torso at all and it just seemed to make my gyne worst due to adding chest muscle. At the end of last year I developed an ongoing bad back, quickly followed by a bad knee so it has become difficult to keep up my gym routine, so about a month ago I thought sod it. I was in the process of changing my mortgage and the opportunity to get the required money without increasing my monthly repayments or length of term was there so it just seemed my time had come.


I had my consultation with Karidis at the beginning of November; it was a quick affair as all my questions had been already answered by this site and my mind was already made up. My only concern was if the operation was possible as I am still overweight or should I try to slim down first. Karidis said in my case this was not an issue but that as well as the gyne I needed additional lipo under my arms, which I agreed with as there was a lot of weight there. One of the things I’m looking forward to after healing is putting my arms down without feeling the cushions of fat that used to be there. My genetics are such that I store most of my weight around the top front/sides of my torso, my chest is (sorry was) 45inch and my waist is 36inch. It is fair to say I have (sorry had) an extreme case.

At the end of the consultation I got the hook line 'I'll make you flat' and went to see his PA to make the booking. She managed to squeeze me in just under 4 weeks, which as it turned out was cutting it fine due to getting blood test sorted and moving money around to pay. They didn't explain the blood tests at all and I only found out about them when the paperwork arrived. However if you ring their office they are understanding and flexible on the deadlines stated in their literature. The cost of my operation came to £5195 due to having additional areas of lipo and after paying a deposit of £1495 I was all set. Interestingly I haven’t told tell anyone I was having the opp, only my wife. Even after living with the condition for 30 years I am not able to talk about it to anyone.


I booked into the hospital a 7am yesterday and was the first in theatre around 8:30. I can honestly say it was a pleasure from beginning to end, at my age you develop a talent for sensing who is just doing a job and who is genuinely interest and everyone I met genuinely cared. I was nervous about the opp and felt a little panicky when I went down, but the anaesthetist put me at ease and before I knew it I was in recovery. It was that quick that as I came around I was still wondering when they were going to do the opp. Not long after I was taken to my room and spent a very relaxing day drifting in and out of sleep and watching tele. I had my blood pressure taken a few times and had a very nice chicken and mayo sandwich for lunch. I not sure if it is just me but I had a very dry mouth all day, no matter how much water I drank, so my recommendation would be take so fruit juice in with you. Around 2:30 Karidis's Nurse came to see me and explained all the aftercare etc and another nurse gave me painkillers etc for the next week or so. It has not been 24 hours since the opp but I am in surprisingly little pain so I'm hoping I won't need them. Surprisingly I am quite enjoying the compression vest, I fell like I'm in body armour, not sure if this will last though.
I left the hospital just after 4 and got the Train back to Liverpool with my wife (who has been amazing, thanks love).

So what do I think of the results so far, well I put a T shirt on last night to go to bed and I cannot describe how good it felt and looked, even with all the padding it was obvious, I no longer look like a chubby bloke with big breasts. I have a long way to go and I suspect I will take longer to heal than most people I read about on here due to the severity of my case but I have no regrets at all.

The final question is do I have the record? Karidis removed 1 litre of fat from each side making 2 litres in total, I didn't catch the gland weight but I'll find out and update my post along with some pre opp photos.

Well that’s about it, I just wanted to say many thanks to all the contributors on this site who made the decisions easy and gave me the confidence to finally go ahead and do it.
Cheers all.

[vegasgo]

Nice report, got any pics? Like me I had quite a severe case but am doing well, 3 weeks post op now.

[improving]

Thank you for posting your experience. I will most certainly be having my surgery with Karidis after all the great experiences people have had on here. I only have a very mild case, but its enough to have made a couple of people make comments. I spend 5/6 days per week working out and my chest hasn't got a very good appearence due to a small amount of fat/breast tissue.

Before and after pictures would be great, although its understandable if you didn't as its quite a personal thing.

[HiddenHorror]

Hi All

Its been a little over 7 months since my opp and I just wanted to return to leave an update for future readers.

After 7 months healing I still have one side slightly bigger than the other and I still have one slightly creased nipple and to be honest I don't give a cr&p.

I wish I had taken the plunge years ago. even now, at least once a day, I have a moment when I realise that I am doing or feeling something that before the op I would have been embarrassed by. The other day I was walking in strong wind and didn't care that my t shirt was blown tight around my chest. At the Gym I no longer wait until I know the showers are empty before venturing in them or try to get dressed fast so no one will see me.
Its difficult to describe but before the op my chest would always be on my mind in everything I did it, sometimes lurking in the background sometimes right up front and ruining my day. After the op it is still on my mind but in a totally different way. I'm no longer feeling the embarrassment and frustration but I am aware of the absence of it and its very liberating.

 My wardrobe no longer consists of only shirts with pockets. In fact there has been an explosion of very enjoyable T shirt buying in my life and large parts of cloths shops, previously shunned for there pocketless, clingy material, tight fitting wares are now open for me to look around.

So to sum up, just do it,

go on, go on, go on, go on, go on

[fingerit]

Dude, great story mate! I wish I had built up the courage to get my surgery done years ago but the NHS surgeons I spoke to were so negative and pretty much destroyed my confidence it the surgical route. At the moment I'm only 6 days post op but I'm so happy to get rid of my moobs.

I know what you mean about the compression vest feeling like armour! Also drinking loads after the surgery, jesus, I couldn't stop drinking water!