2 years since surgery - recurrence or is it all in my head?

[Anonymous88]

Hello guys. My gyno probably started in my early teens. But since I was quite overweight I didn't really care, thinking it would probably disappear once I lost adequate amount of weight. When I was 20 I got ssri subscribed and I gained a lot of weight from using it. At my heaviest I was probably weighing around 115 kg and I'm 188 cm tall. At this point I was just fed up being fat, so I decided to lose it, and I did. In the following 8 months I lost around 35-40 kg. I now was underweight but still healthy. Now a new problem had arisen - I had a lot of loose skin, especially in my chest area. I went to a plastic surgeon and had a surgery. He removed the breast glands and the loose skin. The outcome was amazing, I was able to go swimming and wear tight t-shirts and so on. I've gained 10 kg since my surgery (2 years ago) but I'm still feeling that it doesn't look alright and that something is wrong. I've been back to my plastic surgeon who assured me that I have no recurrence and everything looks fine and that the surgery was succesful. I've also been to another doctor recently who told me that nothing is wrong and that it's in my head and I should start with ssri again. My girlfriend, mother, father and sister say it looks absolutely fine and that I sohuld be proud of my chest, but I'm having a hard time believing them when I look at myself in the mirror. To me it looks like it did before having the surgery. I just need your opionions on this, if it looks normal on someone who's of normal weight or if everyone is lying to me to not make me depressed. This is causing me a lot of distress and anxiety and I don't know what to do anymore. Thanks in advance.

[Anonymous88]

Found my pre op pictures aswell. To me it looks exactly the same as now..

[Anonymous88]

Does it look normal, or not? Anyone?

[hammer]

Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder! If your love ones say your fine then why look any further!

[Anonymous88]

That is true Hammer, but they would love me no matter what so it's not really soothing. But It's important to me to feel "normal" after many years of bullying and shame. Besides, I've paid a lot of money in order to get rid of the problem.

[jay adams]

Looks like you still have it.

[hammer]

That is true Hammer, but they would love me no matter what so it's not really soothing. But It's important to me to feel "normal" after many years of bullying and shame. Besides, I've paid a lot of money in order to get rid of the problem.

There that word is again! Please tell me what "normal" looks like! If there was such a "thing"as normal everyone that was normal would all be exactly alike, wouldn't they? Your girl friend would be sleeping with someone else and you would be with someone else too because everyone one would be normal, and the same, no difference!

Jay would like what I like, I would like what Jay liked we wouldn't need choices in life, because everyone was normal, the same! No one would be doctors because that wouldn't be normal to want to be a doctor, it would only be normal to be accountants! So we would all live out doors because there wouldn't be anyone to build buildings either, why? That wouldn't be normal, because everyone is an accountant.

I could go on, but I think you get it! There is no such thing as normal! If you feel you need to do something about your chest, then do it, but remember that it is just extra fat, breast tissue and skin that is controlling you with that mind set. Those bumps don't make you the man that you are, you are who you are by what is in your heart and mind, not on your chest!

Each person is made perfect in Gods eyes, but he gave man the gift to fix and change things when needed and it is up to us to decide when that is needed. Just remember, as I said before, you are who you are, not for looks, but what is inside! As a loved one!

Good luck, God bless!

Bob

[jay adams]

I don't know if that's a reoccurrence or if the surgeon didn't do the surgery correct. It looks like the before pictures still. Do you have a pic of 3/6 months after surgery?

[Anonymous88]

I apologize for not replying here but I've been busy with school and stuff. Since I posted the pictures here I've dropped another 7-8 kg, and everyone says it look a lot better but it really looks the same since I have no fat there to speak of. I went to see my surgeon again and he assured me that there's no enlarged gland and what I'm feeling is scar tissue and that I should try to tighten the skin with chest workout. After the visit I was quite fed up actually because I really feel something is wrong with my chest, and I want to fix it since I can't live a normal life and it's affecting all the aspects of my life. I made the decision to see another plastic surgeon who is an expert in gynecomastia surgery, this surgeon has a good reputation here in sweden, performing 3-4 gynecomastia surgeries a week, so I was quite certain that I would get a gynecomastia diagnosis. He performed a pinch test on me and assured me that there's nothing there except scar tissue which I find very, very odd since these lumps have grown since I had the surgery 2 years ago and distorted my chest. He wasn't willing to perform a surgery on me and basically told me to go talk to a shrink.

Someone asked me about post op pictures but I'm afraid I have none. But I can tell you this, my chest was very, very flat, it was about 6 months later I noticed the first change, it just wasn't that flat anymore and the small lumps under the incisions had grown in size.
I'm really bummed out and don't know what to do since nobody believes me and keep telling me it's all in my head. It's like living in a nightmare where you can't wake up, I've started feeling that I can't trust anyone anymore. I deserve to have a chest to be proud of after all these years of humilation.

Anyone have any suggestions what I should do next? Is my only option to go to the states in order to get this fixed or should I just accept this and live a really mediocre life?

[kjm_35]

I don't think you should just accept it and live a mediocre life. I think you should go to the States and look into getting kenalog injections. Get a much better opinion on what you should do. It doesn't look bad at all but if it's bothering you, you should fix it. Shrinks don't help all that much, for me wearing a vest to reduce the appearance helped way more.