Chorltons Thread - Op Feb 2005

[Chorlton]

Cheers Doddy.

I am really pleased.

Your link does not work.  Try it again.

Chorlton

[doddy]

Well the picture I was referring to is 40/44, but as I went on to say they all look great. Not only does your chest look flat in a t-shirt, but it doesn't look weedy at all.

[uk_bloke]

superb results chorlton ,looking good mate.

paul.

[Yorkshireman]

Chorlton, I gorra say, those are might impressive results.....I hope mine goes as well as that!Nice 1 mate.

[RRB]

Great results Chorlton, you must be well pleased.

[Chorlton]

It is now 32 day since my op.

Over the last few weeks my life has been turned around.  More confidence, better cloths (they are now calling me MR GQ - as in GQ mag - as I can now wear decent cloths not gyne hiding ones).

I had been wearing my vest full time but have had a few days off - for social reasons!!!  

The numbness in my chest is reducing but still there.  Some times when I take the vest off I get a burning sensation.   The lumps under the arms were reducing but I was not fully aware what it was.  When my bandages first came off my chest was as flat as a pancake (maybe even slightly inverted) .  Over the last few weeks I had noticed them getting a little fuller.  I thought I was being paronoid.  When I say fuller I don't mean gyne returning but but more chest looking.  I did have thoughts of the gyne returning for some reasons though.  I still cannot feel my nipples.  I occasonally get shooting pains in the chest.  And when I scratch the chest I cannot feel it.  Some times it is hard to actually find the cause of an itch.

Monday I had a post op consultation with Levick.  Who as usually put me at ease.  He did a quick examination and explained a few things that have put me back at ease.

Firstly, the scar tissue.  We have all had the lumps under the arms and found it hard to lift our arms.  Because no one had mentioned bad things about it I think we have thought it is all part of the process.  Well it is.  Just as the incision scars dissappear the internal scar tissue will to.  It will take months 6- 12 but it should all go.  The ability to raise your arms should come back in 1-2 months.  Again the scar tissue is restricting your arm movement.  When I raise my arms the scar tissue pulls against my chest and kinda makes it look funny.  This should go to in a few months.

secondly, The return of the gyne!  Levicks technique usually means taking extra fat out so the chest may look a little concaved when the bandages are taken off.  When I mentioned my growing chest he said this was expected.  If you feel the chest you can feel hard tissue.  Mine is around the nipple area and to the sides.  This again is scar tissue that Levick said will reduce in 6-12 months.  I have been told to massage my chest now to help it reduce.  He said I can do this with just my hands or use some form of oil (coconut oil was recommended) although he said the bear hand should really be enough.  He did say as his technique means taking a little extra out (concave look) that if he had not and the scar tissue had built up then it would stick out a little more.  The skin should contract over time as well.

I can now start working out.  Levick said I should do more upper body work to really work the muscle.  He did say some gyne people do try and work out their upper body but the gyne can hide the fact the work out had not pumped the muscle effectively - I think I fall in this catogary.  Back to the gym me thinks!

Oh and the cost of lipo to the belly cost just a little less then the gyne op so Levick told me to work out to get rid of the gut.  I thought that quite good really as he could quite easily make money out pushing more surgery on people.

Levick took out of my right side 250cc of fat and 55 grams of gland.   On the left side he took out 300 cc of fat adn 78 grams of gland.  And he gave me a copy of my pre op pics.   Hope to add them to the collection soon.

Levick said that the compression vest was to stop the swelling and that I would not need to wear it any more! Unless I thought I my chest had started to swell again.  I have not work the vest for a couple of days now and the burning sensation has reduced.  And I dont have to sleep on my bleeding back!  But the comfort vest is in my bed side cabinet just in case.

Chorlton

[AJP]

Nice one Chorlton.

Good to hear things are developing well and there haven't been any real scary moments!

Just one question (a dumb one at that): I'm right in saying Levick doesn't charge for the post-op consultation, right? Or wrong?

The phantom itch thing is weird, don't you think?!

All the best.

[Chorlton]

AJP,

Your right.  The post op is free.  The phantom itch thing is sooooo weird.  Hopefully it wont go on much longer!!

[AJP]

Cool. I'll give it a couple of weeks then give the man himself a ring. Not that I've got much to report apart from a bit of swelling etc; all seems to be going very well! (Touch wood!)

Cheers.

[Merv_UK]

Cheers Chorlton.

Sounds like I'm right were I should be i.e a few weeks behind you. Pretty much a carbon copy so far, in fact after reading your post might put off going to see Mr L for a while.

[RRB]

I was going to ask if the post op consult was free too Merv, Levick told me I could just do the post op consult over the phone as long as i had no real problems, to save me travelling down.

[Chorlton]

Right Lads,

I am now 8 weeks post op - thats 56 day.  The last month has been easy really.  Still got numbness in my chest - no nipple sensation at all.  The last week or so I have been getting pains in the chest.  Not bad pain.  The only way I can describe it is that my chest is going through another stage of healing and as it does so cause a pain - different to before.  Does that make any kind of sense, probably not.

In one of my last posts I told you about seeing Levick about one month post op.  If you look at my pics - BY THE WAY I HAVE ADDED MORE PICS - you can see the swelling in my chest around the nipple area.  There is no noticable change since I saw Levick so I assume that it is still scar tissue.  I am still massaging but I think I need to do it a little bit more to break the tissue down.  It will probably take a little more time for the skin to contract as well.  My scars under my arm are still visable.  Levick did say when they go the scar tissue should as well so I presume that is why it is all still there.  UK bloke - how is yours.  Have you seen a reduction yet?

IT100 did you go through this to.  your chest 12 months on is now the chest that every one is aiming for.  did you have scar tissue that looks like mine?

Having gyne can make us paronoid.  I can feel my chest and look at it and think the gyne is coming back when I know (hopefully) that it is not.  A lot of the changes should (again - hopefully) be part of the healing process.  It would be intersting to hear peoples comments regarding my chest now so feel free to be honest and post.  If my chest changes and the scar tissue goes it will help people at this stage understanding and make them not panick.  But if you read futher down the line I need revision then may be you might panick but know that you need to add a couple more steps in the process of getting gyne free.

You probably notice from the pics I have piled on the pounds a little bit - must hit the road and do some running!

At this time I am still happy that I went through the op.  The mental torment of dealing with gyne has virtually gone now.  I can go out with a t shirt on and not worry about which way the wind is blowing.

Anyway bed calls.  Night all.

Chorlton

[uk_bloke]

hey chorlton ,

looking pretty good ,look a bit more symetrical than mine are at the moment ,my right being very flat and the left nipple area being a little fleshier and looser, this probably looks worse in my own eyes as i can see every lump and bump on my chest ,but as i said in another post last week ,levick thinks it should all pull into place in 6 months time ,i remain hopeful but im not discounting needing a touch up.

i'll try to post some newer pics soon.

as for my incisions they are still pretty red looking so i suppose thers still lots of healing time to go,one thing i noticed as soon as i left the hospital is that one incision is hidden in the armpit but the other one is outside and can be seen all the time ,a minor thing hopefully  as it probably wont be noticeable when the scar is fully healed.

dont worry about that belly ,plenty of time to get rid of it .ive still got mine, but now the teets have gone i dont feel fat any more ,wierd!

cheers, paul

[Chorlton]

Hi all,

10 weeks and 3 days into it.  I have feeling in my chest.  Just been scratching it and I can feel it.  Just need my nips to get some feeling.  The scars are what I have just found out are Keloid scars.  Slight raised and bith thicker than normal.  Black people normally get this type of scaring.  Have you ever seen tribal scars - its similar.  I am not to worried about it as it is where it is and to be honest when was the last time you looked at someones pits!!

When I was deciding to go for the op i browsed this board as well and picked on Levick as he was the most talked about (and did the most ops).  If I was to redo the op I would also go with Levick.  Not due to any loyalty but the fact that he has been slated and praised and the praise has out weighed the negative feedback. Where there has been negative feed back I have made my own decision on how important to my decision that has made. I think a healthy amount of feed back is good.  Of the other surgeons there has been good feed back but little of it.  Just my train of though by the way.  No disrespect to any other surgeons intended.

If you look at my pics and read my postings you will see that I am not completely satistisfied with my chest at the moment.  But let me put this more into perspective mate.  My Chest will not win any muscle competitions neither would my stomach get a six pack prize.  Whilst my chest is relatively flat, when I hunch it sticks out.  Levick did say that this was scar tissue and excess skin.  In the past I have lost weight and seen a shrinkage of my gyne but only slight.  The op was a quick fix removing a lot of gland and fat so I would expect the skin to take some time to contract fully back.  And I am talking months. I am only 2.5 months in. As with the scar tissue the more I massage it the sooner it will go away.  I massage between 5 and 15 mins a day at the moment and can feel the tissue reducing.  From all the posts in the past we know that we are in this for the long haul - 12 months min.  And we know the phases - OP, flat chest, swelling, fat chest, scar tissue, massage, then final result.  The average time is 12 months but people heal at different rates.  

Back to getting things in perspective - My current chest is a million times better than before.  Never before in my life (actually probably pre - gyne) have I worn so many t-shirts.  I don't bother when the wind blows, I can stand and stick my chest out, I don't have to hold a cushion or my arms infront of my chest when sat in a chair with others.  Basically my life has changed.  Not just physical reactions to situations but mentally my mind is at rest as I am not constantly thinking of ways to hide the gyne in different situations.  So that is a positive ain't it.

Yes I have scar tissue and a little excess skin that fingers crossed will go.  I mentioned it in my post so that people can look back on my posts and see that I had a gripe about it but 6 months later it was fixed.  I will have a consultaion with Levick at 6 months and discuss it with him.  So then we will know how the problem (as little as it is) will be resolved.

Plus I hope to put some more pics on my link so people can make their own minds up about the result.  At the moment my camera has been sent back to Pentax for a little fix so it will probably early May when I post the next pics.

Remember gyne is in the eyes of the beholder!  One can only say themselves does it really bug me or when it is truely fixed and makes you happy.

Hope this helps.

Chorlton