Surgery the day after tomorrow! (11 days post-op pictures added 13/3/2011)

[odt52]

I am booked in for surgery on the NHS the day after tomorrow! I cannot wait, I have been looking forward to this since I first visited my GP about 1 year ago! Although I have been wishing for this for about the past 10 years!

My journey up until now has been as follows:

-Aged 18 through to about 22, I developed a fairly large set of moobs (prob a C cup)! I recently (aged 27) lost a couple of stone and noticed that I could not lose any weight in my chest area despite lots of trying. Having seen a small piece on Gyne on C4’s Embarrassing Bodies I went to visit my GP.

-My GP confirmed I had Gyne but before trying to refer me to a surgeon reffered me to an Endocrinologist to rule out anything sinister.

-After a load of Endo tests I was diagnosed with Idiopathic Hypogondism which was the casue of my Gyno.

-Endo prescribed me with Testogel in order to increase my testosterone levels to the normal level. They said the Testogel would help reduce my Gyno. It didn’t, in fact it made it slightly worse and very irritable.

-Went back to my GP to say I visited the GP in order to have Gyne removed but ended up with it even worse and giving me grief. He again attempted to refer me to a surgeon.

-First referral was denied however after my GP advised it was due to my Hypogonadism an appointment to see a surgeon was offered to me. There must have been a mix up in the appointments system as I eventually received 2 surgeon consults with different surgeons in different hospitals.

-I went to both surgery consults. The first surgeon stated he would need to do lipo and incision. HE advised that the scarring would be bad but that he would go ahead if I was sure. He also said not to expect a perfect result. First surgeon said surgery would be 2-3months. Second surgeon was more upbeat. Said I had a bad case but that it was soft and should come out using lipo only. He said some glandular tissue can be hard, but some can be soft. He said he had has a cancellation and booked me in for March 1st.

-Accepted slot with second surgeon as he can do it quicker (not the best reason to choose a surgeon I know!). I am going to make sure, during the pre-surgery char with the surgeon that I state if they cannot get it all out with lipo that they make an incision also as I do not want two ops!

-The first surgeon mentioned that as my Gyne was so bad I may need some excess skin removed in a second op, depending on if my skin snaps back to how it should be post the first op. My relative youth is apparently on my side!

I am so relieved to finally be having this done, I cannot wait to be able to wear what I want. This is going to help me enjoy my life so much more. BTW I have found the NHS to be very good pre-op.

Please feel free to ask me any questions

Fingers crossed for positive results! I will post an update soon.

[odt52]

Had my op yesterday on nhs. Cannot speak highly enough of them. Fom the nurses to the surgeons, all were fantastic. The bed was the most comfy bed I think I've ever been in!

Wasn't to sore yesterday but sore today. Altough it only really hurts when using my pecs, if I sit still I am fine! Despite the dressing and the swelling it looks flat as a pancake! Been trying cloths on in front of the mirror with a big lump in my throat, so good to be normal! I'm like a cat that has got the cream, couldn't be happier.

I will post a full update soon with pictures. My message to all would be to give the nhs a try. The guy who did my op said he and alot of surgeons do private gyne ops also. So I could have paid 4k and wound up with the same guy anyway.

As everyone says, thank you to this forum, wow, what a huge help and source of advice.

Post soon, a very happy, very flat poster!

[emanresu]

I'm glad it worked out well for ya odt52. Looking forward to seeing the before and after pics. Tell me, did the surgeon cut out the breast tissue or did he only do lipo?

BTW, well done for getting it on the NHS. I've been turned down 4 times in 10 years, so finally I went private.

[manboobs2010]

Hi odt. So happy to read a nice story of the NHS!! I'm hopefully getting mine done with the NHS in the near future. Where did you have your operation done?? How long have they recommended you be off work (if you work). Thx

[odt52]

I had the op done at Addenbrookes in Cambridge. They said 2 weeks off ideally but as I have a desk job 1 week should suffice!

I am taking my support bandages off today that I have had on since surgery. I have bought a compression garment to wear now for the next month or so. I'm nervous to see how I look sans bandgaes!

My chest has swollen up to about half it's previous size and is pretty sore however I guess this is to be expected. I understand the result won't be evident until about 8 weeks down the line which is when I am booked into out-patients. I was very flat straight after op soni assume they got it all out and this is just down to swelling.

I WILL post some pics soon!

[thetodd]

sounds like swelling to me mate, just take it easy post some pics when you get a chance

its annoying because 24 hours post op you think great problem over, then afterwards it was a bit of a downer for me. Eventually it will calm down take it easy when your massaging post op because i overdone it and actually created scar tissue from vigrous massage. Id say it was at least a year before i got my final result though scar tissue takes an age to go away

[odt52]

thetodd - thanks for the encouragement. Like you said, I was over the moon when I first saw it, but now it's nearly back to how it was! Although I'm sure most of this is in my head more than on my chest! I seem to have a lot of swelling under my arms at the side of my chest. I'm pretty black and blue too!

When the your swelling begin to decrease? I am not familiar with massaging, is this common? How does it help?

Thanks mate, it's so good to be able to compare stories with someone who has been through this.

[thetodd]

Yeah brusing will be gone in the next few days/weeks i wouldnt worry about that i didnt really get much but i think it went within four days. The initial swelling went down completley at about the month mark from what i remember but it was tender to touch for a long time after that i didnt get sensation in my nipples till about 2/3 months afterwards. Once the swelling goes down youl be left with scar tissue which really is the bain of the recovery process and i still small amounts to this day nearly two years on.

Its hard to explain but the scar tissue is a hard tissue under the pecs and massaging basically helps to break it up get rid of it. But ive never got a solid answer on how to actually massage the area i used to use my knuckles and go at it really hard but when i went back to Karidis he said to me that id probally damaged the muscle and created scar tissue inadvertantley. Once i stopped doing it hard it really improved. I think the best thing is just to get some bio oil and just use firm pressure and do the whole area twice a day.

Its hard to get a picture of scar tissue on camera but if you hold up your arms and get under a light youl see all the raised area's thats scar tissue mainly you wont see this untill all the swelling goes down. It also depends how your body reacts to it some people dont get any scar tissue at all so fingers crossed you wont

[odt52]

I have just got round to adding some before and after pictures.

After removing my dressings yesterday I discovered that I have only had lipo, and no incision. This is not entirely unexpected as the surgeon did say if they could get it all out with lipo then they would. He mentioned pre-op that there was glandular tissue but that it was soft and should come out with the lipo. I hope that he has got it all out as we both agreed it would be best to get this all done in one op. It is still rather swollen so I am reserving judgement! Incidentally, I only had two lipo holes, you can just about make out the holes/scars at the top of my abdomen about 6 inches apart.

Following surgery I had support bandages on each side of my chest from the bottom of my chest and over each shoulder to offer some support. I am now using Nike Pro t-shirts for compression (http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d.html?a=B00261BZPA) which I have found to be very comfotable. I normally take a L-XL size in t-shirts so I have medium size Nike Pro's.

I only have one before pic which is not great and doesnt really show how bad it was due to the angle and lighting. I am particularly pleased with the side profile as before this is when it looked worse. I also have a lot of bruising in the areas under what where my moobs. This makes them look as though they are still there showever you can get a better indidcaiton of their size in the side shots. For my money there is still some 'moobage' there however this could be down to swelling. I just need to lose my belly now, however at least i know this is 'burnable' fat! I will add somemore images a bit further along in the healing process.

Let me know your thoughts....

Before surgery...

4 days after surgery...

[thetodd]

I have seen this where the surgeon says the glandular tissue has been removed with lipo this is just impossible. What they actually do it remove stubborn fat which is a temporary solution but this generally leads to "gyne re-occurance" the only way to reduce the gland is by excision and while the glands there it may re-occur. The first lad that springs to mind is a lad called d24

https://www.gynecomastia.org/smf/index.php?topic=19313.0


id be prepared to expect a post op result similar to his NHS post op pic, which i didnt think was to bad but ultimatley he decided that he needed excision

[odt52]

thetodd - Looking at that guys post NHS picture he looks worse than me even though I still have swelling! I have had a good feel around and cannot feel any of the heavy and lumpy glandular tissue which was there before and my puffy nipples have gone.

The surgeon who did my op stated that most of his Gyne patients are more than happy with the post op results after having had lipo only. Therefore I am unsure of the origins of your comments suggesting that it is impossible to remove gland with lipo. I would be inclined to bow to the surgeons superior knowledge in this instance. However despite this, part of me is expecting to have to go back for incision which would be highly dissapointing considering what the surgeon and I had agreed a few hours pre-op.  

[thetodd]

Ive seen this a fair few times with NHS patients youve got to look at it from his point of view. If he messes up excision and gives you scarring or there is crater deformation then thats just more hassle for him. However if he does lipo and it looks good on the checkup then he can sign you off. There is a reason why there are two parts to this operation

liposuction = fat
excision = glandular tissue

Liposuction tends to be a tempoary solution, go into the gyno reoccurance board on this forum and youl see loads of posts. Ive seen it a fair few times where surgeons have said "We'l remove the gland if its needed" then it comes to it and they basically say no unless you pay to have it done via the BMI group.

[odt52]

I guess the fact is that u was reffered to the surgeon in order for my Gynecomastia to be treated. Gyne is glandular breast tissue in men. Therefore if the lipo doesn't do the trick they will have little choice but to then carry out incision. Indeed I will state it was supposedly going to be dine during the first but they must have felt they got it all out, who knows!? I suppose time will tell.

I will continue to update as the swelling subsides! 

[kingboob]

Ive seen this a fair few times with NHS patients youve got to look at it from his point of view. If he messes up excision and gives you scarring or there is crater deformation then thats just more hassle for him. However if he does lipo and it looks good on the checkup then he can sign you off. There is a reason why there are two parts to this operation

liposuction = fat
excision = glandular tissue

Liposuction tends to be a tempoary solution, go into the gyno reoccurance board on this forum and youl see loads of posts. Ive seen it a fair few times where surgeons have said "We'l remove the gland if its needed" then it comes to it and they basically say no unless you pay to have it done via the BMI group.

I agree with you really.   I must have heard of 3 or 4 guys via this forum who were told they were getting lipo+excision on the NHS and in the end got lipo only.

I think it is way too early to tell the results of surgery............ but if I had to make a wild guess I would say that once the swelling has settled there will be a big improvement but not as flat as what could have been achieved with more experienced and personalised treatment.   

It really depends how realistic the OP's expectations are; I mean there is already a visible improvement and his chest is more in proportion with his body now........ but if total flatness was the goal I think he will be disappointed.

The risk is of course that excision with an inexperienced surgeon can lead to disasters...... and even the very best surgeon cannot guarantee perfection first time around.   Lipo is more difficult to screw up... unless the surgeon goes totally gung-ho and sucks out everything in sight.

[odt52]

Hi all!

Now 8 days post surgery. Just wanted to post a quick update.

My chest is still swollen. It feel hard to touch and pretty well all around the breast area. The swelling seems about three quarters of an inch thick and covers most of my chest giving the impression of gyne still. However, given the immediate post op results I am hoping this will all subside.

I have some very light and squidgy puffyness under and to each side of my left nipple which feels like fluid. I would be greatful if someone could let me know if this needs draining or if it will "self absorb".

The bruising is at it's worst and is fiercest under my breast area and to the side of my chest under my arms. Although my whole breat area is one big brown bruise. It is all tender to the touch, and despite returning to work today it is painful if I jiggle up and down.

On a positive note, I cannot feel any glandular tissue under my nipples, although with the levels of swelling I have I may be missing it or confusing swelling with glandular tissue.

Will try to take more pictures to show current physical condition.

I have to say it has been nice to get back to work. There is only so much Jeremy Kyle a man can take. I'm really looking forward to being able to exercise again in a few weeks as I feel as though I have gained some weight this past week.