My Story

[estate1]

I am 59 and have been living with protruding nipples and excess fat around the breast and underarms. I was teased and humiliated at the beach when I was maybe 8-10 yrs old and have been haunted by it all my life. I have done all the usual behaviors from slouching my shoulders and dressing in baggy clothing (I've always wanted to wear a Teeshirt/sweaters publicly but don't..)I have been self conscience with women and and there's not a day goes by where I am not affected somehow. I shudder to think how different my life might have been if I wasn't affected by this problem. I'm sure my desire to "fit in", and to be "normal" may have indeed contributed to my Alcoholism. (I have been sober "by God's Grace for 9 years now) All in All I believe my story is typical of those who suffer from the emotional issues surrounding a physical problem.
I am 6'3" 250lbs (about 30 over the ideal weight) and I have a big frame and don't show the weight. My fat is mostly in the belly and love handles. I know I can get this off, but my questions are:
1) How important is weight reduction and muscle building (chest exercises) before surgery?
2) Does the puffy nipple get corrected easily?
3) How long until all signs of surgery are gone. (I'd to like to plan a beach holiday as soon as I can after surgery)
4) Does tanning help with overall look afterwards?
5) I'm willing to travel any where in Canada to have the work done but I live within 1hr of Calgary, Alberta..any local surgeons that anyone would recommend in the West?
6) Cost is not an issue, but I understand the usual is about 5,000, is that correct, or is there more than meets the eye? The small print stuff?
Thanks for any info. It is comforting and a relief to have somewhere like this forum to vent 50 years of anguish! I have a 32yr old son who I think is a candidate also, but I have never talked to him about this. I look forward to sharing with him and maybe helping him.
God Bless

[superhuman]

I'm going to try to help you as much as I can... because I have done a lot of research but I am def not an expert! I just came out of my surgery 3 hours ago and am typing this as we speak :p

1 - weight reduction is most ideal before surgery... to acheive better results. But like yo usaid your "30 over the ideal weight"... it would be better if you googled "BMI calculator" and give the information from there. If you are 30 pounds I would suggest you to get atleast to the "15 pound over portion" because with your age, your skin elasticity is getting more difficult to work with. Therefore it would be most ideal to lose some of the fat and get to your ideal weight that you seem to be fine with
2 - dont know anything about this
3 - Depends on your skin, and how well you eat and take care of yourself. Normally after everything it can take up to 2-6 months or even a year.
4 - Uh no clue
5 - Don't go to vancouver for your surgery, as I'm from there... There's a lot of great surgeons and it depends on the price range you are willing to spend
----- In canada (toronto) there is Dr Fielding and Dr Lista... (Fielding = $1800-2500 and is really experienced with gyne)... Lista costs around 4500-5000 and also really reputable.
As of the US... there's Dr Delgado, Dr. Cruise and many others. I personally flew all the way from vancouver and had my surgery done with Dr. Cruise in newport beach, and oh man was the money ever worth every penny! I did pay quite a large amount of money, but then again you know what they say..."you get what you pay for".... so basically wouldn't you rather get it done properly by a experienced surgeon, instead of going for revision after... just my 0.02.

Wish you all the best!... oh and (surgery is def not scary at all wow... best sleep of my life)

[estate1]

Hey Super...Thanks so much for your kind reply. Good luck with recovery. Cost is not super important ..and I do agree with "you get what you pay for" Calgary to Cali is an easy distance. Although I was thinking TO as I have a brother there where I could stay. But relaxing by a pool for a week (with shirt on..lol) recouping from procedure sounds great too. With flights/hotels/doc etc. Rough Cost 10-15k?  I had teeth implants done a year ago and it was a painless 5 hour procedure due to great sedation, so I'm not worried at all about the pain side of things. I really need to loose the weight. I just took pics and I'm looking awful..haha.
I'm so grateful that you replied and I wish all the best with your new look! Good on you!
A pic of what I'm up against.

[JamesDawson]

Its always good to lose weight and exercise at any time but losing weight before your surgery will help you get a clear idea of what you want from the operation. I lost a lot of weight so I didn't need any lipo and ended up having gyno on one side only, plus you will be recovering for the next month or two and might not have the energy/willpower to exercise.

I've seen some great results on puffy nipples on this site so do a bit of research on what surgeon you have choose.

Tanning is a big NO when you have a fresh scar, it can cause the scar to change color and take on a permanent red/purple color which will cause them to stand out more.

It takes roughly 6 months for everything to heal up and swelling to subside. The scar has a lot of factors like the surgeon's skill, the size of the scar, how well you eat etc

This forum is great, I only found it a few days after surgery when I was googling recovery tips. Its great to have so many people with gyno to talk to and share experiences/information.

[superhuman]

I don't know about your weight as it is from a picture, but I'm sure that you should lose another 10-15 pounds or so... it will make a huge difference, not only with the results after your procedure but as you can see your skin elasticity isn't the greatest. From what I see (once again I'm not a doctor but just a bit of advice hopefully its right) if you got surgery now I'm sure your moobs will sag as you can see they're not in their normal position but a bit downwards. Not only with the sagging, if you decide to lose weight after surgery with all the extra skin that will be there won't help and you might need to go for revision. Honestly, you dont seem to be as overweight as others but I highly suggest you just lose about 10-15 pounds and then invest in the procedure.

The surgeons in toronto are GREAT! dont get me wrong, everyone has positive replies for them, but its up to you if you want to go somewhere else for a vacation and yes, with hotel/flights/food total will probably come up to be $9000-10000. It's worth every penny!

I feel great and honestly I'm sure after you get this behind you... you will too! Let me tell you this, theres honestly NO PAIN before or even after surgery... but thats just me.

Good luck!