should i tell doctor about previous surgery

[Snowblowjoe35]

i know honesty is the best policy but i just need to know if i have had surgery before in the past for gyno would the surgeon need to know this to perform at his best? i dont want to jeapordize my insurance not paying for it. but if it will help the surgeon or its critical for him to know about my previous surgery then i will tell him the day of the surgery.

[Dr. Elliot Jacobs]

Yes, yes, yes, you must tell your any surgeon about prior chest surgery.  There is a major difference in operating on someone who has had prior surgery -- ie scar tissue, and any new surgeon must be told about your prior surgery in as much detail as possible.  In fact, you should request a copy of your operative report from your first surgeon and present it to the new surgeon.

Dr Jacobs

[Dr. Schuster]

Yes you should absolutely tell your surgeon about previous surgery, and everything else about your medical history. Let your surgeon decide what is important.

[Litlriki]

Absolutely tell about all previous surgery.  Tissues are different after surgery, and depending on the nature of surgery, blood supply to tissue can be altered by surgical procedures--incisions, scars and so on.  Not telling your surgeon puts you at risk for complications that might not be issues in previously unoperated tissue, so this matters.  And an operative note helps to clarify what was done, especially if the procedure was unusual in any way.  
Additionally, the concern that insurance might or might not cover the procedure may be irrelevant, since gynecomastia removal is rarely covered at this point, at least in my experience. Additionally because reimbursement for the procedure is abysmal, many gynecomastia surgeons may not even take insurance for the procedure. We stopped taking insurance for this a couple years ago. 

[DrPensler]

Look you are on the same side as the surgeon. Always be honest with your surgeon. Also there are some separate considerations on a second surgery.