experiences on nhs???

[mike93]

I think it's difficult for us to tell you not to go to dr clark in poland as none of us have any previous dealings with her. If you go on to the europe forums you'll see that she's extremely popular. I guess the advantage with Levick and Karidis is that you have that consultation beforehand to check them out. Just something has always sounded suspicious to me about her. I'm sure i'm being paranoid but I was also considering her at one point but it didn't feel right.

[Donut]

Not wishing to sound over-dramatic here; fact is you only get one life and one body... You're entrusting a team of people to knock you out, cut you open, chop bits out, stick you back together again, and wake you up... You have to be 101% confident in your choice of who you get to do all that!

I couldn't possibly conceive of committing to any sort of surgery without meeting the actual surgeon his/herself first and checking out the consistency of their work over a long period of time...

This isn't an A&E job where you absolutely have to be operated on right now (even though we all know how desperate it gets to get rid of these damn things!)

Hey - to put things in perspective, I've lived with the problem for a couple more years than you've been alive!!

Take a deep breath and really weigh up the pros and cons of waiting a little bit longer - you're not going to be out of the vest to catch much of this summers t-shirt weather in any case, and perhaps you could save enough to get the job done in the UK early next year ready to get the full benefit of next summer in?

... that's what I'm aiming for!

[bloodygyno]

thanks for all the responses...

i have the surgery booked for 4th july.

however im feeling pretty uncomfortable with the person who i have been in contact with (the consultants husband). his tone has seemed very dodgy, ever since i paid the deposit. (somewhat rude emails).

as well as this, he has changed the exchange rate of polish zlotys to pounds 3 times ( from 4.95 to 1 pound, to 5.06 to 1 pound, to finally 5.0 to 1 pound) - all in the space of 1 day.  with each email he has sent me he has made mathematical errors. for example the surgery costs 7250 zlotys. when he said the exchange rate was 4.95, the conversion to pounds should have been 1432 pound, however he wrote this was 1445 pounds. he made errors each time with the costs of ultrasound/blood tests also,

each time i questioned him about it, he said i was correct, but then went ahead again in making inocrrect calculations.. i then recieved an email saying actually the rate should be different, and may change again on monday, so would i be willing to pay more if it increased. (in what seems to be a sarcastic tone).

he also stated the reason for the 'incorrect' exchange rate was because he took it from a few days earlier. however the website he gave me with the exchange rates that he uses has been above 5 zlotys to a pound for more than 2 weeks.

this is the same clinic that everyone seems to be raving about in the europe section.

am i right to be a little concerned by this?

obviously il lose my deposit but im tempted not to go, and just try the nhs route again.

[mike93]

thanks for all the responses...

i have the surgery booked for 4th july.

however im feeling pretty uncomfortable with the person who i have been in contact with (the consultants husband). his tone has seemed very dodgy, ever since i paid the deposit. (somewhat rude emails).

as well as this, he has changed the exchange rate of polish zlotys to pounds 3 times ( from 4.95 to 1 pound, to 5.06 to 1 pound, to finally 5.0 to 1 pound) - all in the space of 1 day.  with each email he has sent me he has made mathematical errors. for example the surgery costs 7250 zlotys. when he said the exchange rate was 4.95, the conversion to pounds should have been 1432 pound, however he wrote this was 1445 pounds. he made errors each time with the costs of ultrasound/blood tests also,

each time i questioned him about it, he said i was correct, but then went ahead again in making inocrrect calculations.. i then recieved an email saying actually the rate should be different, and may change again on monday, so would i be willing to pay more if it increased. (in what seems to be a sarcastic tone).

he also stated the reason for the 'incorrect' exchange rate was because he took it from a few days earlier. however the website he gave me with the exchange rates that he uses has been above 5 zlotys to a pound for more than 2 weeks.

this is the same clinic that everyone seems to be raving about in the europe section.

am i right to be a little concerned by this?

obviously il lose my deposit but im tempted not to go, and just try the nhs route again.

Hi,

I guess this is dr.clark? Don't get too worried, i've never seen any reviews saying that there's anything to worry about. Check her out with the polish GMC but I don't think you should panic. You're probably reading in to it too much.

[mike93]

yeah its dr clarks clinic

im not one to be sensitive but this guy jeremy seems like a proper dickhead

I guess that's why a lot of us go to levick and karidis. You've paid a lot of money for their service and they are very attentive. I've emailed levick 3 times since my surgery and every time he's got back to me pretty much immediately with a kind and helpful response. Don't get yourself work up about it though, I honestly think you'll be fine.

[bloodygyno]

im pretty bloody nervous. flying out today.

cant help but thinking i should have at least tried the nhs route. my gp was very supportive (for some reason he made my appointment with the breast clinic as urgent - i had it in 2 weeks)... my gyno looks pretty bad compared to many others. as well as that, the breast surgeon i was meant to see on the nhs does private work with gyno and i found a quote from her about cosmetic/plastic surgery stating:

Consultant surgeon Senita Shrotria, who specialises in NHS breast enhancements and reductions at Ashford and St Peter's Hospital in Surrey, admitted it is difficult to turn down patients.
She said: "We tend not to disappoint patients. Often they are teenagers with one breast far bigger than the other. They stuff socks in their bras and are terribly self-conscious. It's absolutely right to operate. I don't think patients often pull the wool over our eyes."

with my bad gyno case, her experience, my gp's support, and my strange feelings about going to poland, i am feeling uneasy.

i could have got it done for free. but on the plus side, in 2 days time i could have a flat chest

just kicking myself for not even trying with the nhs

[Nips]

how did it go?

[mike93]

I'm also keen to know how everything went, hope it went as you hoped.

[bloodygyno]

hi guys,

well obviously i went ahead and had surgery done. im back now in england. luckily the week i was in poland went quite quick, i met another english lad who was having the op done on the same day so we hung out a bit which made things easier.

its crazy how many guys are travelling to poland for the surgery, every day there were new people who had arrived or were recovering that i would meet. the ultrasound showed that i had a fairly small amount of glandular tissue, and it was mostly fatty tissue. surgery i think went quite well but at the moment im unsure about the results. the left side seems very flat (which im happy with), but the right side seems like there is still a fair amount of fat there (dr clark said its just swollen though), which i am a little concerned about.if it is sqwollen, wouldnt it be a little bit hard, not flabby?

also i didnt really get any information about how to massage, whether to pull the nipple to stop it becoming indented? any advice from you guys would be helpful. should i start massaging now (5 days post op), or should i wait. do i massage the whole chest area, including the areola? also how hard?

thanks

[Nips]

hi, and well done for going ahead with the surgery.

i wouldn't worry about the swelling issue on one side of your chest yet. It's very early days so I wouldn't pay too much attention to how it looks. I'm four weeks in and still needing to be patient. Supposedly, it's around the 6 month mark when everything is fully healed. Though, after 6 weeks you should have a good idea of how it'll end up, as I've been advised by my nurse. I guess it depends on how much work has been done so everyone will vary.

Regarding massaging, from what I've read you shouldn't massage this close to the op date. Think you need to give it a few weeks. Try in the search engine and you'll most likely see some advice from the docs on here. However, I haven't been advised to massage at all so I'm not. The nurse said don't do anything until I see the surgeon next which is in two weeks. So far everything is healing well.

Pulling on the nipple? I'm no expert but I would suggest not to do this. Never heard of that before. Again, it's way too early for you to be doing this. Your body is going through a traumatic healing process so just let it sort it self out for now.

Can you contact the clinic in Poland? Maybe they can give you the best advice if you're still unsure.

[mike93]

hi guys,

well obviously i went ahead and had surgery done. im back now in england. luckily the week i was in poland went quite quick, i met another english lad who was having the op done on the same day so we hung out a bit which made things easier.

its crazy how many guys are travelling to poland for the surgery, every day there were new people who had arrived or were recovering that i would meet. the ultrasound showed that i had a fairly small amount of glandular tissue, and it was mostly fatty tissue. surgery i think went quite well but at the moment im unsure about the results. the left side seems very flat (which im happy with), but the right side seems like there is still a fair amount of fat there (dr clark said its just swollen though), which i am a little concerned about.if it is sqwollen, wouldnt it be a little bit hard, not flabby?

also i didnt really get any information about how to massage, whether to pull the nipple to stop it becoming indented? any advice from you guys would be helpful. should i start massaging now (5 days post op), or should i wait. do i massage the whole chest area, including the areola? also how hard?

thanks

Hey, I'm glad to hear everything went well. It feels great to finally have a flat chest doesn't it? Also nice to hear there was another english person. It's best to start massaging 2-3 weeks after to let it settle a bit. Keep us updated to how the next few weeks go.