advice please

[concerned parent]

hi, i am the parent of an 18 year old who is due to have chest reduction privatley on 10th feb at our local nuffeild hospital, he was refered by our dr but was placed as low priority for the op on the nhs. we made the decision to pay for him. i must be honest and say that we did not really research much and now having come accross this site i see that  dr. alex kirides is very highly recommended. i now have doubts as to wether we are going blindly into this, it's not too late to cancel..please what are your thoughts on alex kirides?

[Swarley]

Your son is very lucky to have such a supportive & concerned parent!

For me, when I was going into it, I wanted to be totally confident in my surgeon and his team - because it's surgery, and that means there are risks. Also I wanted to make sure I'd be happy with results (I'll have to live with them for the rest of my life).

It does seem that Alex Karidis and Paul Levick are by far the most experienced surgeons in the UK for male chest reduction.

So, I had a consultation with Alex Karidis back in late September / early October, where he examined me, explained my condition & what would be involved in the surgery to correct it. We talked about the recovery period, and what I could expect the results to be - he showed me several before & after photos on his computer so that I could get an idea of what the end results would be like. He actually had several hundred photos on his computer, but he chose to show me the ones most similar to me.
Because of this site, I didn't need to ask him about his experience - I knew from my research on here that he's been doing hundreds of male chest reduction operations a year for several years.

Overall, the consultation gave me all the confidence I needed to book my surgery with him (and I never once felt like I was getting the hard sell - quite the opposite actually).
I had the surgery in November - you can see my thread for the full details, but the short version is I'm very happy with the results.

I don't know what experience you've had with Nuffield hospital, or if you've even met with the surgeon yet - but if you have any doubts at all, I'd say it's worth going to see Karidis and / or Levick - if only for your own piece of mind.
Hope this helps.

[Swarley]

Sorry, forgot to add 2 things -

You should encourage your son to do some research so he knows what he's getting into & what to expect. For a start, I'd recommend reading through some of the most popular threads on this board.

Also, are you absolutely sure that your son needs surgery?
I'm no doctor, but in some of the research I did, I read that Gynecomastia can sometimes correct itself during puberty. If your son is 18, then I'm just wondering if surgery may be a little premature.

[Bikkembergs]

I agree with Swarley that you should research this thoroughly. It's not a major operation but dissatisfactory results would still be devastating.

I'm actually a Nuffield member myself and wondered whilst at the gym if the surgeon would do this operation. During a work out the big screens repeat onto the surgery adverts regularly but I just wouldn't feel confident having an operation in what's basically a glorified gym with an "on site surgeon". As opposed to personal care of Karidis/Levick's private surgery and without douzens of gym users, kids in cresh, women getting their hair done etc who'd also occupy, enter and leave Nuffield at the same time as me whilst I'm there.

I'm not saying your son's operation is doomed, far from it. It could be better than any on here for all we know. But you asked for our opinions and mine is that as a Nuffield member I wouldn't have cosmetic surgery at one of their clinics. I too will be operated on by Alex Karidis next week because I was comforted by his impressive portfolio of work, his expertise of the condition, his experience of the proceedure and the strong recommendation on this forum in over 5 years of threads.

Edit: I just googled my Nuffield surgeon and turns out he doesn't do the operation anyway  

[bomberman]

karidis did my chest and i am very happy with the results, i would definitely recommend him! you can see my story on my sig, good luck