Military is paying for my surgery

[Lumberjake]

Hey every one, I'm new here and this is my first post. I've had gyno (puffy nipples) since I hit puberty around the age 12. I was an athlete in high school and you can probably guess I was made fun of because of my puffy nipples. I joined the Air Force when I turned 18 and have been in for 3.5 years now, just recently I went to the base hospital to see if I could get the gyno surgery done at the military's expense and sure enough they are paying for my surgery to be done by a civilian plastic surgeon. My surgery is on wednesday and needless to say I'm very nervous and excited....

 I only have one real concern my doctor wants to do lipo only and I have puffy nipples... I've done some research and I'm pretty sure I won't be happy with the resaults. I called him the other day and expressed my concern and he assured me that the glandular tissue is so small under my nipple that it will take care of the problem. At the initial examination he also told me that I only have glandular tissue under my right nipple and I'm fairly cirten this is incorrect. I think the reason he said this is when I took off my shirt my nipples shrank to a normal size because of the chilly temp. In the room.

I'm just nervous this wont take care of puffy nipples, I'm going to express my concern again to him before the surgery in hopes that he will do an excision along with lipo. I'm in pretty good shape around 14% body fat so I don't think the lipo is going to help a whole lot....

[Paa_Paw]

I enlisted in the Air Force at the age of 18 too. Right out of High School and all that. I was sent to a Medical Technical School After which I served at Hospitals and clinics in Montgomery,Alabama; Paris, France; Ramstein, Germany; Abilene, Texas; Tripoli, Libya; and finally returning to Abilene, Texas. Obviously I served more than one enlistment.  When I served, Doctors were still being drafted into the Army and the one sure way to avoid that was to join the Air Force or Navy. As a result, Air Force and Naval hospitals Were better in many cases than the hospitals in nearby towns. This reputation is still often referred to but since there is no longer a compelling reason for Doctors to enter the Military, the military is having trouble recruiting the brightest and best.

So, the fact that you have been referred to a civilian surgeon comes as no surprise.

If you had made this contact a month ago, you would have received information about finding a surgeon with good experience, proper Certification, and a demonstrated ongoing interest in this rather specialized surgery. Since you have waited so long and your surgery is only a couple of days off; I have little time except to wish you well. 


By the way, I entered service 7 Aug 1955 and I was an enlisted Medic, (A Corpsman if you were a Sailor or Marine) not a Doctor.  The timing is important because we have not had air bases in France or Libya for a very long time. The Doctors I was privileged to work with had recently completed residencies in many specialties and were to be the front line of medical specialists.

[Lumberjake]

Well the reason I was referred to a civilian plastic sergon is because the base I'm stationed at does not do any type of sergury, also there is only one doctor in town that specilizes in breasts, the next closest one is 3 hours away. So I didn't have much of a choice.

[improving]

Hi, how did it the surgery go? Did he stick with lipo only?