Hello all,
I've been meaning to post on here for quite some time now. I'm scheduled for revision gynecomastia surgery with Dr. Jacobs in a week. I've spent years essentially researching gyno, but this will be my first post. It's been bothering me that I haven't contributed any content to the discussion. I was going to wait until after surgery, but I have some free time right now before work. I'll probably break this up into 4 parts: backstory doctor choice/surgery experience/before-after images. I won't finish now, but I plan to post again in the very near future.
backstory
I developed gynecomastia as a teen. My doctor believed that my gyno development was likely idiopathic. I had lab work done to check my hormone levels a few years after the initial onset of the gyno(right before the surgery). The results were pretty much normal. My prolactin levels were slightly elevated but not high enough to warrant concern. I've recently started to think that possibly some supplements I took from GNC may have contributed to my development of gyno. Unfortunately, I don't remember the specific things I purchased when I was younger. I would generally just buy what the sales associate recommended if it was cheap. Other than the possible GNC supplements, I don't recall ingesting anything before my gyno developed that's commonly known to have a strong causal link to gyno(e.g. alcohol, certain illegal substances, certain prescription medications, etc.). It was likely just a combination of puberty/genetics/environment/diet/etc... This, of course, is really just all speculation on my end.
Now I'm not exactly sure when my breast tissue first began to grow beyond the "usual" amount. In my mid-late teens my chest looked quite unusual. My nipples were tender and would chafe on my lacrosse pads. At one point I went to a primary care doctor to find out what was going on. The doctor referred me to a general surgeon. I had the surgery shortly after, and a revision surgery not long after that. Both procedures were done by the same general surgeon and covered by insurance. The surgeon performed glandular excision, but no lipo. While lipo would have almost certainly helped with the appearance of my chest, the surgery wasn't being performed expressly for cosmetic reasons. In fact, the surgeon warned me that after the procedure my chest likely wouldn't look "normal." I wasn't bothered by that at the time, and I figured anything would probably be an improvement. The surgeon advised he would excise all of the glandular tissue. That isn't what happened. Initially I was upset that all the tissue wasn't removed, but I'm quite happy now. From what i've read, it's much more difficult to revise gyno surgery if the patient has a large crater deformity. As a side note, I don't want what i'm saying to come off as disparaging in any way. All things considered, the doctor actually left me pretty well off. My chest doesn't look too bad at all, and I'm in a position where a revision with plastic surgeon is possible. I haven't mentioned the name of the general surgeon that performed my initial surgeries because he doesn't really deal with gyno.
It wasn't too long after the surgeries that I really started to do my research on gyno. I went went back and forth for awhile trying to decide if I should have the surgery again. My chest doesn't look that bad, but I am very self conscious about it. I made the decision a few years back that I would seek a plastic surgeon for revision when it became a financially viable option. I essentially want to put a period on the end of this experience and move forward. I've had a tough time justifying the cost of this decision, and I still feel guilty that i'm using so much money. It really has taken me a very long period of time to be in a position to afford this. The whole process has taken about 5 years. Before saving for the surgery, I forced myself to build up an emergency fund and pay off all my undergrad loans. I probably would have been done about a year ago, but I made a couple of mistakes along the way. I had one year of foolish decisions that ultimately resulted in no savings that year. With that exception, I have been quite frugal with my income.
I'm going to break now and probably continue this post within the next few days. Before I go, I have a question. It's slightly unusual, but I haven't really found a clear answer. I'll probably post this question somewhere else later. I'm not sure how many people will actually read this far down. So... I have hard cord-like tissue that covers my entire pectoral and underarm region. If I pinch the loose skin/fat in that area, I can feel the hard tissue. It almost feels like pieces of headphone cord dispersed throughout my chest/underarm. This tissue rests on top of the muscle in the fatty tissue. I've been told it's nothing to worry about, and it's normal to have fibrous tissue in the pectoral/underarm region. I was advised some men have more.... and some have less. I had initially thought that it was all gyno type tissue, but I was advised that's not the case. My question is.. While I know the hard tissue isn't gyno, does anyone know if there is some sort of positive correlation between the amount of this type of tissue in an individual and gynecomastia? I actually had a mammogram recently and it looks like you can see this tissue I'm speaking of in the image. I'll probably post my mammogram later so it's a bit clearer. Just to clarify.... This type of tissue isn't visible or painful. I'm really just curious..
If you have any questions for me, feel free to ask. Thanks..
Topic: REVISION SURGERY IN NYC: my story... (Read 3786 times)
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