Do I need to have a revision done?

[revolver]

I had Unilateral gynecomastia and went in for surgery (incision and liposuction) 3 days ago. Yesterday was my 2-day post op where we removed bandages and to my surprise... it doesn't look right at all! Will it get better as time goes on? Is my left chest supposed to be this flat compared to my right?

I can't stand how it looks right now. I went in because I had gynecomastia glandular tissue on the left chest and after getting it removed.... the plastic surgeon just reversed the size imbalance!

Of course, I don't want any glandular tissue. But if you look at my right chest, it look much larger than on the left chest where I got the procedure done. Will this be fixed over time? Or am I really screwed? I thought they were supposed to look completely even.

http://img175.imageshack.us/i/dsci0004h.jpg/
http://img97.imageshack.us/i/dsci0007qx.jpg/
http://img441.imageshack.us/i/dsci0005m.jpg/

[ddh]

First, I think you need to wait. For me, I was much flatter immediately after surgery than I was a month after surgery. Now, 5 months after surgery, I look pretty much like I did 6 weeks after surgery. I could be that you'll be less flat in a few weeks.

But it does seem a bit odd to me to have surgery only on one side. I'd think that it'd be much harder for a surgeon to make one side look like the non-surgerized other side than it would be to perform surgery on both sides and match their appearance during the surgery. Just my non-medical 2 cents.

[DrBermant]

I had Unilateral gynecomastia and went in for surgery (incision and liposuction) 3 days ago. Yesterday was my 2-day post op where we removed bandages and to my surprise... it doesn't look right at all! Will it get better as time goes on? Is my left chest supposed to be this flat compared to my right?

I can't stand how it looks right now. I went in because I had gynecomastia glandular tissue on the left chest and after getting it removed.... the plastic surgeon just reversed the size imbalance!

Of course, I don't want any glandular tissue. But if you look at my right chest, it look much larger than on the left chest where I got the procedure done. Will this be fixed over time? Or am I really screwed? I thought they were supposed to look completely even.

http://img175.imageshack.us/i/dsci0004h.jpg/
http://img97.imageshack.us/i/dsci0007qx.jpg/
http://img441.imageshack.us/i/dsci0005m.jpg/

3 days is just too early to tell.

One sided or Unilateral) surgery is the ultimate in trying to make perfection since it can be very demanding to make a surgical site look like no surgery has been performed. You can see typical swelling after my unilateral one sided surgery here. And here is another example of my one sided sculpture.

I see many patients with asymmetrical or uneven gynecomastia. Actually it is quite common for the two sides to be different in size.

We have had quite a run with severe uneven cases lately with 6 cases the past few weeks where the gland / breast size difference was so massive, that we needed a larger size pathology container for the bigger specimen. This is much more than typical.

Not all surgeons use the same techniques. Timing for how tissues evolve depend on many factors. Checking with your own surgeon is the best first step. For those planning possible surgery, checking how a particular surgeon's technique evolves after surgery can be a deciding factor for surgeon selection.

Hope this helps,

Michael Bermant, MD
Learn More About Revision Gynecomastia and Chest Surgery