A little over a year ago, I had a corrective operation to get rid of my gynecomastia. As you may know, this is considered plastic surgery and 95% of the time is NOT covered by medical or health insurance. Mine was. I was VERY fortunate in this respect because neither myself, nor my parents had $5,000 cash that they were willing to spend on the operation.
The gyne was mainly in my nipples. I had a normal chest but my nipples protruded a good inch or so. I noticed my gyne when I was 13 or 14. I was so ashamed of it that I did not once in 7 years remove my shirt in public. I always wore layers. When I finally told my parents about my condition, I was 19 years old. The genuinly did not know I had this problem. Whatever.
POINT 1: Tell your parents. If you keep this to yourself, the problem will never rectify itself. Your parents love you and they will support you, no matter how embarassing you think having "man-boobs" is.I had my surgery last summer. I was so excited. I marked that day as the day my life would officially move into phase 2, where I would no longer be ashamed of myself and my body. The operation went well. I followed instructions for the most part, but I took off the compression vest after a week.
POINT 2: FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS! I'm an absolute moron for taking off the vest early. More on this later.After a couple of months, my chest finally looked as normal as it would ever look. I lost some weight, and life was good. I noticed, however, that the operation was somewhat anticlimatic. I viewed June 2nd, the day of my operation, as a new begining. In reality, it was just another day.
Fast forward a year. My right nipple has started to puff again. My left nipple lays flat against my chest. I don't care though. I have no energy left to care. This is who I am. I didn't decide to have puffy nipples. The only difference between the past and the present is that I finally wear t-shirts. I wear clothing that fits. I am more comfortable with myself. But in reality, I look exactly the same in the clothing. I am 20 years old, and I am still a virgin. When I had gyne, I was too scared to hook up with any girls. Now that I am semi-gyne free, I have no experience (I'm not kidding, I haven't hooked up with a girl in 5 years. You want to talk about sexually frustrated, I AM sexually frustrated) and I am scared of under-acheiving in the bedroom. It's hard, especially growing up in an age where sex is everyone. Again, whatever. I'm too tired to care about it.
The point I am trying to make is that your life before and after the operation is going to be very similar. Make the best of your pre-op life. Gyne is 90% mental, 10% physical in my opinion. I may have a better physique now, but I am still as self-concious about my chest as I was before. Nothing has changed in that regard, post-op and after-op.
I see a lot of people posting on the boards that they want to kill themselves and they want to end their lives over this stupid condition. I urge you to live your life to the fullest. It may be easier said than done, but it does not hurt to try. From the age of 13-20, I never once went to the beach, swimming, hooked up with a girl, or anything like that. And why? Because I was scared and not confident. If you are confident in yourself, you could have a D-cup and girls will still like you.
Don't let this condition get in the way of living your life. I understand that it will be difficult at times, but life is not easy.
Good luck to everyone in dealing with their condition,
There Is Hope