Hi there, I am not entirely new here as I was in this forum during the last 2 years trying to describe my postop experiences when I had both a liposuction (June 2008) and gland removed (July 2009).
I had a long break from this site (basically 10 months), simply because I needed to get away from the whole matter for a while: I really feel that my gynecomastia problems always played a very dominant role in my life and now that the (t)issue is 'gone' (or at least greatly minimized) it was time to get completly away from it!
Now, one whole year since my last operation has passed; its results are pretty much stable and most satisfactory, so it is time to share my experiences with others.
More importantly, I would like to give some words of advice so that, those of you that are considering a GYNO operation right now, would not make some of the same mistakes I made. Let me start writing down the things I have learnt:
1) doing a liposuction only is (maybe) not a good idea if you both see and feel the gland in your chest. You will be disappointed by doing the lipo only and such small improvements (if any at all) do not justify the price of the surgery. Believe me.
2) do your homework properly: find a specialist in the field, who has performed many gyno operations before (I went to DR Jacobs in NY: he's great, but maybe there are other docs located closer to where you live): 'normal' plastic surgeons, though experienced, might have limitations especially in those cases where liposuction is not enough and you need to remove the gland as well.
3) the right specialist is extremely important especially when you are dealing with situations that are not so bad to begin with and only small improvements are necessary. You want to have those improvements without nasty side-effects like extra skin hanging, cavities etc. Basically, you gotta go the extra mile, financially and, sometimes geographically: as I said, I went to Dr Jacobs in NYC, but I am based in Europe! Spending a big bucket of money once (and for all), is better than doing 1 or 2 revisions afterwards, in terms of time, pain and saved money!!
4) do not have highly unrealistic expectations: it all depends on your degree of gyno; the worst your initial situation is, the most difficult it would be to get what you might perceive as the 'perfect result'. Within the boundaries of reason huge improvements can be obtained, but miracles are not possible.
This is my story:
I am a 42 year old guy based in Denmark (Europe) that had a degree of gynecomastia which could be defined as mild (I saw many pictures in this site which depict situations far worse than mine).
I am not overweight, actually I am quite athletic and was always able to 'somehow' mask my gyno with muscles: I could wear t-shirts without people noticing it at all. To the inexperienced eye, one saw big pecs especially with clothes on. Removing the t-shirt (going to the swimming pool etc) was an entirely different story!
As I said, I underwent 'liposuction only' in May 2008: I knew virtually nothing about gynecomastia and my surgeon suggested to perform only a liposuction, as he claimed I mostly had fat to be removed; moreover, taking out the tissue would have caused cavities on my chest, so he said and this is why he went only for the lipo. I trusted him because he is a very well-known (and expensive) 'plastic surgeon' here in Denmark, but not a 'gyno' specialist.
12 months postop, I did have a small improvement, but I certainly expected much more and the result did not justify the price of the surgery. I had no one else to blame than myself as this was actually my own fault: I did not do my homework properly, otherwise I would have done things differently: liposuction only does not work when, like me, the patient has also a lot of tissue to be taken out.
One year later I decided to see 4 other different plastic surgeons in Denmark and - to my great amazement - they all maintained that removing gland tissue would make my chest deformed: with no gland and/or fat left between the skin and the underlying muscle, the scenarios they depicted were horrific: cavities, skin hanging, huge holes ... you name it!!
Obviously, for guys suffering from severe gynecomastia having a bit 'weird looking' chest with small cavities where the nipples are placed is a small price to pay compared to having very large breasts, but I was not one of those guys!! And seen my mild gyno, I was wondering whether the results I got were probably the best possible results from a 'cosmetic' point of view even though I still 'felt' the gland tissue.
That was a quite weird period for me, since I really did not know what to do: I was starting to believe that maybe it was just a problem about my own unrealistic expectations. I remember one of the 4 doctors I saw telling me that a certain degree of gyno is normal, and he even maintained that his own gyno was far worse than mine! Maybe, at this stage, I should just accept fate: there comes a point in every situation when there is nothing more you can do to change an outcome.
Still, I was quite reluctant to give up. I knew that most of the surgeons here in Denmark do not know very well this particular field of plastic surgery so I decided to talk to a highly specialized surgeon for this type of gyno related operations. I eventually contacted DR Jacobs in NYC and sent him some pictures in order to have his evaluation of my situation.
By looking at the pictures he concluded that there were still some possibilities of improving the overall situation and we explored the possibility of performing a revision surgery by removing a bit more residual fat (as I said, I was not overweight and there was therefore not much fat left after the previous year lipo) and more importantly, the remaining gland tissue.
From that moment things went very fast: at the end of June 2009 I travelled to NYC, got a preliminary pre-operation evaluation at Dr Jacobs' clinic, performed a few clinical tests and decided to go for the surgery a few days later at the beginning of July: it was my first time in NYC so I used the opportunity to be one of the many tourists in the Big Apple and I certainly did not get bored during that week.
Then, the big day arrived: Dr Jacobs and the crew were simply terrific, before, during and after the operation. Everything went ok. I don't want to bore you with details, but what he did was to remove a bit of residual fat and the remaining gland tissue, making sure that something was left in order to avoid cavities and holes.
In 'doing' my right chest (where there was neither much fat nor tissue) he did not create any 'new scar', but used the small incision outside the areola-area, in the lower chest area made the year earlier by the Danish surgeon. For the left chest, where there was more tissue to be taken out, he had to make a very small incision inside the areola-area, in order to be able to remove it much more easily.
I went back to Denmark a couple of days after. A few weeks post surgery, things were not looking good: my right chest had remarkably improved, but my left chest got worse then ever because it swelled quite a lot and the wound inside the areola-area took a long time to heal.
During this period of time I was always in contact with Dr Jacobs via e-mail: he gave me plenty of good advice, mostly of psychological character actually! He knew very well that it takes time to heal. I knew it too, but it is quite normal to be a bit worried, isn't it?
Slowly the healing process was completed: after 3-4 months the results you I had were as close as possible to the final outcome. I also began working out (I did loose a lot weight because of forced inactivity) and started to grow my pecs bigger.
One year later, I can say that I am very pleased with the results: both chests have quite improved if compared to where I was before. I can't feel any tissue any more and the overall aspect of my chest is normal: I baiscally look like a guy with big pecs!
There are no visible scars and I have only a bit of extra skin that you hardly notice: by the way, that extra skin is 'gone' completly when I flex my pecs, so I guess I need to continue working out in gym in order to fill the gaps
Well, that was my story. I hope that I was able to help someone that is now considering to have a gyno operation: and remember DO YOUR HOME WORK and choose wisely.
Good luck ... and you are welcome to contact me via this post if you need some help: I will be trying to be on line more often.
PS: my previous posts
http://www.gynecomastia.org/smf/index.php?topic=14083.0)
http://www.gynecomastia.org/smf/index.php?topic=17551.0
Topic: Thanks dr Jacobs! (Read 5441 times)
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