My Surgery with Dr. Karidis COMPLETE! with pics! (11/08/2012)

[gangs1975]

Hi All,
Firstly I want to thank everyone of the forum members who have actively contributed to this website.
I have been following this forum for over an year now and all the info that I have gathered has been extremely helpful and has allowed me to gather the courage to go for the surgery.I dont think i would have been able to do anything without all of your valuable inputs.

My story

I am 37 yrs old and 6ft tall.I put on a lot of weight in the past 5-6 yrs and had a severe case of gyne which was hugely affecting my confidence and my day to day
activities.I have a five year old son who many a times asks me to take him to the beach or go to the pool with him which I used to refuse by making some excuses.I used
to see him getting upset by this and decided that it was time I made some changes.

I took the first step by joining a gym in 2010 winter(my starting weight was 110kgs) and started following a healthy lifestyle. I am not the type of person who can diet so I knew that progress would be slow but steady if I could just controll my portions. I intially believed that by excercising and loosing weight I can get over by man boobs only to come accross a case on channel 4s 'Embarassing Bodies' last year, which showed surgery was the only way to get rid of man boobs.
I started an online research, went through a lot of you tube videos and eventually came accross this website. I read stories and followed the updates of many forum members on how the surgery has changed thier lives and thats when I decided on getting the surgery done by Dr. Karidis. I decided to tell this to my wife who has been very supportive right from day one.

I  had my consultation with Dr.Karidis in september last year,by when I had lost about 8-9kgs.He examined me and reassured me that he could make me flat. I decided to wait for a while till I could lose some more weight and also gather the funds as well. I booked my surgery for the 11th of august this year by when the money was ready, things were less busy at work and I had lost some more weight and was down to 95kgs.

Day of the Surgery

My experience on the day of the surgery is simmilar to the well narrated stories of many of the forum members so I have just summarised it below

I reported at the reception along with my wife at 7:00 am in the morning and checked in my room.
I Met Dr. Karidis about 8:30 who came and marked me up and once agained assured me that everything will be just fine.
I was taken to surgery around 10:30 and woke up after about 1.5 hr and was told that everything went well.
I was guided back to my bed by around 12:30.
I felt quite drowsy after the surgery as a result of the G.A.but did not feel much pain.
I initially felt that the compression vest was uncomfortable however things started getting better once I settled in my room.
My blood pressure and temperature was being monitored every half an hour. Around 15:00 hrs Dr. Karidis's assistant Amy dropped by to check my progress.
She also explained the post operative care and the medicines that needed to be taken and also gave me the extra compression vest along with the relevant contact details.
Dr. Karidis came around 16:00 hrs to explain that the surgery was smooth and he had to extract 3 litres of fat which is quite a bit I guess.
He however did not mention the amount of gland that was taken out something which even I forgot to ask.
I left the hospital by 17:00 after collecting the pain killers provided to me and took a cab back home(I live in south london).

I was really happy with the whole experience. I still cannot believe that I have got it done.I know that this is just the beginning and I will be going through lots of ups and downs during the recovery process. My aim is to loose the remaining extra weight and be in a position where I can have a great time with my son.

here are my pics!!

[gangs1975]

Pics Day 2!!

[gangs1975]

Side views Day 2

[rasputin]

Awesome man, thanks for sharing. I was also a lurker on this forum for a good year or two; I remember being on holiday with friends in August 2011 thinking to myself (as I sat in a t-shirt in 35 degree heat) that I'd love to get rid of my gyno but there's no way I'm getting surgery... and here we are!

So we had surgery on the same day and you also live in south London? Nice!

Glad things went well for you - the results look really good. However you're missing that all important pre op pic!

[gangs1975]

Hey Rasputin
I lost all my pre op pics as I had saved them on my hard disk which crashed. I am still finding a way to restore them. I have emailed Dr. Karidis's office requesting the pre op pics that he had taken so I guess it will be a while till I can upload them.

[rasputin]

That's pretty tough - at least you know Karidis will be able to sort you out with the pictures he took beforehand. Good luck with your recovery, I have to say mine is going pretty decent, got most of my mobility back and my bruising has turned from blood red to a nice 'jaundice yellow' ...

[gangs1975]

My recovery is on the slower side . I guess this is expected as a lot of fat has been extracted from my chest . My chest is  pretty sore at the moment and there is numbness in the chest area. I am taking the cocodomol tablets ,2 every 6-7 hrs. There is still some bruising on my chest which will take some time to subside. I will upload my 5 day post op pics tomorrow.

[rasputin]

Yeah, don't get me wrong - I'm numb as hell and very sensitive to touch on the chest area, also struggle to extend my arms above my head. I'm expecting a good 4 weeks until the bruising subsides and any pain is completely gone.

[gangs1975]

Yeah in 4 weeks things should hopefully be better. How are you finding the compression vest ? I found it extremely uncomfortable initially but am now getting used to it. I had a nice afternoon nap and felt very fresh in the evening. Went out for a 15-20 minute slow walk and felt quite good. I am planning to go to the office tomorrow for a couple of hours and will see how it goes.

[rasputin]

Compression vest has been ok - I washed it on a 30 degree heat the other day and it was unbelievably tight. I sleep in it absolutely fine and have taken a bunch of naps in the day, only issue is occasionally it rubs under my arms and that can get pretty sore.

[gangs1975]

Day 5 update.
I resumed work from today. Did not have much problems traveling to work all though I only went for a couple of hours.Uploading my 5 day pics!!
 

[gangs1975]

Day 5 Left Side view!!

[gangs1975]

Day 5 Right Side View

[rasputin]

Looking good maan. I've got the same yellow bruising that you have right across my entire upper torso.

Amazed you didn't opt to shave your chest beforehand - painful?

[gangs1975]

I did plan to shave before going for the surgery but did not get any time the week before due to tight deadlines at work. Yes removing the bandages was a painful experience but I managed it somehow. Its still early days but I think the chest area feels a bit less numb than before. I also think there is a bit of swelling in the lower chest area but not very sure. I guess it's wait and watch at the moment.i am still continuing with the pain killers and the arnica.