Just a little background on me before my post:
I've dealt with gynecomastia from the early age of 14, I am now in my early 30s. I decided to go through with the procedure after dealing with so many years of being uncomfortable. In my opinion, something most men take for granted like simply throwing on a close fitting shirt can be one of the most complex and uncomfortable things for people that deal with gynecomastia.
I lucked out and stumbled onto this site after a few search results from Google. Almost every post I've viewed thus far has been extremely helpful/informative.
Perhaps this post can encourage some of the users browsing this forum that were like me for so many years (just dealing with it, instead of trying to work up the courage to do something about it).
I did quite a bit of research on board certified plastic surgeons in the area (Illinois) and found one that seemed more than qualified. His experience from years of performing gynecomastia procedures alone assured me that he knew what he was doing. That alone made me confident to book a consultation with him.
It couldn't have gone any more smoothly than it did. Introduced himself, gave me a chance to explain the (obvious) situation. He took some photos from different angles just to see the extend we were dealing with. I didn't really know just how much of the area was consumed with actual gland until he encouraged me to take a feel for myself. I felt the gland under the skin and realized how much I had been trying to fool myself thinking it could have gone away with simple diet/weight training. Keep in mind, I've been weight training since the age of 15, so I was no stranger to clean diet/exercise routines.
The Dr. then proceeded to take the consultation to another room where he uploaded the photos onto the computer. That's when you can really take a look at just how good/bad the situation really is, since I will assume that most men dealing with gynecomastia do not feel comfortable enough to remove their shirts and take photos of themselves from different angles. From there, he used Photoshop to give me a general idea of how realistic (keep that in mind, the Dr. did not display unreal results) the results would be once the gland was removed and liposuction of the area was performed.
He went over the procedure from A to Z, allowing pauses for me to ask any/all questions that were on my mind. Keep in mind that a lot of the questions I had were answered simply by browsing these forums. So I wasn't going into this completely uneducated on the subject. I decided to book a surgery date the same day of the consultation with the mentality of 'The sooner the better' because I'm simply tired of waiting to correct this. They presented me with a packet and went over it in complete detail as to how to prep for the surgery date, and now to prep for the post-op/healing days to come.
The surgery is booked for late November 2012, so I am very eagerly awaiting the day. In the meantime, I went ahead and started purchasing items that were mentioned just so I'm not scrambling around last minute to put them together. I hope this post can inform/help others in either making that final decision or preventing them from having cold feet leading up to the day their new life begins.
So far I've picked up the following (I will add more items as I gather them);
Ace Cold Compress: $10.00 (each) USD from Walmart.
It has a nice feel to it, you won't need a towel due to messy ice bags leaking.
I purchased two, one for each side. Icing the area will help with the swelling.
Back Rest: $24.99 USD Bed Bath and Beyond.
You're going to need to sleep slightly upright for the first portion of recovering. I didn't want to deal with stacking pillows simply because they can start to slide out of position and may be uncomfortable. This will stay in place, as well as keep you comfortable. There is a little pouch on the side to rest a water bottle so you don't have to stretch out too much or pester someone to constantly bring you water.
Soft button up shirt: $10.00 USD Walmart.
The day of surgery they will tell you to wear a comfortable button-up shirt (simply because they don't want you to raise your arms over your head to put a shirt on right after having the procedure done). I currently wear a Large sized shirt, but I purposely purchased a 2X so that I can fit comfortable no matter how much they wrap or bandage the area, not to mention compression vest will be on you at that point so it can all fit under there comfortably.
Thank you for taking the time to read my post, I hope it has helped for some folks out there that may have been curious. Keep in mind, A LOT of this information can be found on the site if you're patient and have time to browse around.
Topic: Consultation completed, Surgery scheduled! (Read 4392 times)
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