Author Topic: Surgery Mr Levick (25/06/14) ONE YEAR UPDATE (including 'gym' pics)  (Read 34238 times)

Offline FlatAsAPancake

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I went for the sleeveless adjustable compression vest that Levick's wife recommended. I ordered a medium in white and it fits quite snug. I tried it on and it didn't feel uncomfortable at all. Maybe because I've wore compression shirts for the last several years so I've grown to love them I guess?

I will do, I may go out and buy them today. I was advised to avoid tomato and garlic based foods two weeks prior to surgery? I'm on holiday a couple of weeks before my surgery in Spain so I'll have to try my best to calm down on the local delicacies hah hah.

I think the 6 month mark is a wise idea. I'll certainly be following your thread and I may even get round to updating mine myself with pictures.



Offline AchillesUK

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I have to admit looking at my pictures 2 months after surgery, I do feel a bit disheartened.

Offline freedom1987

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Hi,

First of all thanks for making and maintaining this thread! I have read it start to finish maybe 6 times now.


How many days post OP did you start your prayers? Do you think the movement involved caused fluid in the chest area?

From what Mr Levick told me the glue blood stuff he uses to stick the skin to the chest wall is to help stop swelling so he doest need to use drains anymore.

Wouldnt this mean if the bond between the skin and the chest wall is broken by exercise that would allow space for fluid build up? If fluid build up happens our body cannot sort this out untill the nodes? have regrown.

The weightloss is great, but wouldnt it be better for a healing body to have enough fuel to power rebuilding? If your body is having to use stored energy to survive then it is possibly hindering your recovery?

You shouldnt be disheartened, your still recovering!
Before the operation, Did you ever do flat or decline chest press? You are rather developed top side, almost as if you only ever done incline presses.


My big day is this Wednesday, alot of thoughts running around in my head.

:)


Offline AchillesUK

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Hi,

First of all thanks for making and maintaining this thread! I have read it start to finish maybe 6 times now.


How many days post OP did you start your prayers? Do you think the movement involved caused fluid in the chest area?

From what Mr Levick told me the glue blood stuff he uses to stick the skin to the chest wall is to help stop swelling so he doest need to use drains anymore.

Wouldnt this mean if the bond between the skin and the chest wall is broken by exercise that would allow space for fluid build up? If fluid build up happens our body cannot sort this out untill the nodes? have regrown.

The weightloss is great, but wouldnt it be better for a healing body to have enough fuel to power rebuilding? If your body is having to use stored energy to survive then it is possibly hindering your recovery?

You shouldnt be disheartened, your still recovering!
Before the operation, Did you ever do flat or decline chest press? You are rather developed top side, almost as if you only ever done incline presses.


My big day is this Wednesday, alot of thoughts running around in my head.

:)



Hey nice to hear from you, and glad my posts have been informative for you.

Prayers started a week or so after operation. It was for maybe couple of hours a day, mainly standing so wasnt too strenuous. Plus since I was lounging about most of the day, it was actually good I got a bit of movement in me, the booklet from Mr Levick's office recommends to get some walking in, even in the first week. I dont think this affected the fluid build up, as even afterwards fluid kept building up. Mr Levick mentioned he thinks its a 'summer thing' but cant pinpoint why exactly.

Re glue - good point. I did actually bring this up when I had to go in for my second or third aspiration. I asked Mr Levick whether all this fluid build up would mean that I would have loose skin, as surely this had disrupted the glue. He just very confidently said no, as he had done when I had asked him  before surgery about the possibility of loose skin. Both times he simply said with my level of gynecomastia I simply wont have any loose skin. I guess thats just from his thousands of operations worth of experience, and it was very reassuring for me to hear that. (Note - he categorised my gynaecomastia as being 'marked' from three different levels 1. Minor/puffy nipples 2. Marked 3. Severe)

Weightloss - I've not gone on a drastic calorie deficiency or anything. I've simply cut out all the junk from my diet. Believe it or not I've gone over 2 months now with no fried food, sugar or fizzy drinks. The drinks part was the hardest for me, and the fried food too, but I've gotten rid of all my cravings. But I still have my 3-4 meals a day plus protein shakes, its just healthier food thats all. Due to a couple of injuries and some other reasons, I had become quite overweight at the time of surgery (around 14st8), now I'm down to 12.11 so I'm not underweight by any means. In fact I feel a lot more energetic than when I was overweight, when I constantly felt lethargic and out of breath.

My weight training - my chest training has always been flat bench press, incline bench press and dumbbell flyes. I've randomly hit the decline press, but the first three have been my bread and butter, and if anything flat bench press has always taken priority over incline. But I know what you mean, looking at my recent pictures it does look as if my upper chest is disproportionately bigger. I was never to know this, as if you look at the pictures on the first page, there was gland and fat covering the middle and lower part of the chest. Having said that, perhaps in the last 12 months or so I did prioritise incline bench press (I still did flat bench, but I did incline first in the workout) as I had wrongly read somewhere that working your upper chest would get rid of the saggy chest. Now that I'm getting towards seeing what my real chest looks like, I will make some amendments to my regime.

Good luck for Wednesday, its natural to feel apprehension, my biggest fear was not waking up from surgery especially as the total number of people knowing I had surgery came to a sum total of zero. I thought what a shame it would be to my family knowing their son had gone out in a manboob operation! But that didnt happen of course and it's not going to happen to you either. Feel free to make your own thread or post any concerns you have in this one, more than happy to answer any concerns you may have.
« Last Edit: August 30, 2014, 11:44:43 PM by AchillesUK »

Offline AchillesUK

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From the handbook given at the first consultation from Mr Levick:

"Remember, the tissues become hard and may be a little lumpy after liposuction, this is normal. It may take up to six months for all the swelling and 'lumpiness' to subside."

This is going to be my new target now, I'll keep massaging daily and hope by the 6 month mark that I'll have a completely flat chest.

Offline freedom1987

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Thanks for the reply!

I  had been focusing on incline db press with 40kg dumbells for a few months, spent the last month n a half working flat and decline to try balance the pec muscle out a little.  Went through the weight quickly on flat, was doing 100kg before I stopped lifting in preparation for my operation.

Would think a more developed top side pec would cause compression problems, did you find the compression on your lower half of the chest tight enough?


I'll be starting my progression thread either today or tomorrow, daily updates etc. my way off repaying this community for the information and support!


Offline AchillesUK

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Thanks for the reply!

I  had been focusing on incline db press with 40kg dumbells for a few months, spent the last month n a half working flat and decline to try balance the pec muscle out a little.  Went through the weight quickly on flat, was doing 100kg before I stopped lifting in preparation for my operation.

Would think a more developed top side pec would cause compression problems, did you find the compression on your lower half of the chest tight enough?


I'll be starting my progression thread either today or tomorrow, daily updates etc. my way off repaying this community for the information and support!



Yes, you're definitely right. Even Mr Levick pointed this out, because of the shape of my chest (and given the amount you lift, probably yours too), that the vest wasnt fully compressing the lower part, hence to put the layers of gauze around that area. As soon as you put the vest on you'll know where exactly the pressure is lacking, so my advise (and I suspect Mr Levick's too, given the recent number of patients with fluid build up) would be to use gauze right from the start (once you start wearing the vest that is) almost as a prophylactic measure, in addition to the vest and binder for the first few weeks. It's a pain, but fluid build up and going back to get your chest aspirated is worse.

Good call making your own thread. You'll see from my very first post, that one of the reasons I started this thread was also to repay this community as it were. However, I've found it a great way to keep track of my progress, pictures, compare from week to week, look back at what Mr Levick had told me if I'd forgotten something etc. so making your own thread will definitely help yourself as well as others reading.

Offline thetodd

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Kenalog shots should be the last option, i wouldnt consider it until 6 mo/year down the line. Your healing well man don't feel down its just the post op blues, they are terrible but if you were told this before the op you just wouldnt have believed it. But when your living it, feels like a lonely place lol but dont worry we've all been there and everything im seeing in the pics looks totally standard to me and will clear
Surgery With Alex Karidis - 16/05/09 - Completed!
http://www.gynecomastia.org/smf/index.php?topic=17738.0

Offline kingboob

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For a couple of months out you are not doing too badly.  I really do think the swelling/seroma slows down the healing process a lot.  Plus it does seem to be a feature of this type of surgery that it takes a long time to fully settle anyway.

What does Mr Levick say about massaging these days anyway?  When I had my surgery it was never really mentioned much.  - I haven't been active on this forum in a long time, but when I used to post regularly a few years back there were quite a few posters who used to recommend quite aggressive massage and I have to say I was never convinced that it was a good idea.

Not sure about what causes the creased/crinkly areola but mine is that way too, although it improved quite a lot over time.

Offline freedom1987

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I'll be seeing the main man himself soon, will ask bout massage during my post op convo.

Nice to be on the other side with you guys :)

Offline AchillesUK

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Kenalog shots should be the last option, i wouldnt consider it until 6 mo/year down the line. Your healing well man don't feel down its just the post op blues, they are terrible but if you were told this before the op you just wouldnt have believed it. But when your living it, feels like a lonely place lol but dont worry we've all been there and everything im seeing in the pics looks totally standard to me and will clear

Thanks man. Any particular reason you say that Kenalog should be a last resort?

Offline AchillesUK

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For a couple of months out you are not doing too badly.  I really do think the swelling/seroma slows down the healing process a lot.  Plus it does seem to be a feature of this type of surgery that it takes a long time to fully settle anyway.

What does Mr Levick say about massaging these days anyway?  When I had my surgery it was never really mentioned much.  - I haven't been active on this forum in a long time, but when I used to post regularly a few years back there were quite a few posters who used to recommend quite aggressive massage and I have to say I was never convinced that it was a good idea.

Not sure about what causes the creased/crinkly areola but mine is that way too, although it improved quite a lot over time.


Hey. Nice to hear from you. I'd agree with your theory. Most of my fluid build up was on the right hand side, and that's where I'm having most of the problems in recovery. Looking back though, there's nothing much more I could have done. I wore three layers of compression for weeks on end, didnt exert myself etc. I think it's just one of those things, different peoples' bodies will react differently to surgery.

How long did it take for the crease in your nipple to go? Quiet upset about that to be honest, as it only just appeared in the last couple of weeks and doesnt look too pretty.

Mr Levick's advise about massaging - I think its still the same as what you guys were told i.e. from what I remember quite vague, he just do some massage from week 2 or 3 onwards (which I had to delay due to fluid build up). Yes, someone else mentioned not to be too aggressive, how he used his knuckles and ended up with scar tissue in his muscles.

I'm just doing my own routine 20 minutes per night with the palm of my hand, 5mins clockwise and 5mins anticlockwise on each side.

I'll be seeing the main man himself soon, will ask bout massage during my post op convo.

Nice to be on the other side with you guys :)

Thanks for that, would be great to hear what Mr Levick says about massaging!

Offline freedom1987

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I asked him and he said 3 week onward for massage, firm but shouldn't hurt.
He also said fluid build up makes healing process take longer.

I got the impression that it is very very important not to break the bond between the skin and chest wall, a week of total rest will allow the bond to take place correctly.

Offline FlatAsAPancake

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Hey man hope you're well.

Just a quick question that I can't remember... When it comes to payment. Do you have to ring a number, do they call you or do you pay on the day?

Cheers

Offline AchillesUK

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3 months Post Op

Today is exactly 3 months post op, so thought I'd post a quick update:

* Been massaging daily with the 20mins routine, 10mins each side.

* Switched to BioOil - much better than E45 which I was using previously. Plus theres some general discolouration from the bruising, if anything might help this its probably BioOil.

* For the most part my right nipple has become inverted. Sometimes the nipple does 'undo' itself as in one of the pictures below, but most its inverted.

* I still have a lump on the right side under the nipple making it still look as if I have gynecomastia. If it is reducing, its at a very snail paced rate.

* My left nipple has been discoloured for a while now at the tip, almost giving the whole nipple and areola a 'fried egg' appearance.

* Between the egg look on the left, the inversion and lump on the right, it does look and feel quite weird. I definitely would NOT go topless anywhere, especially with the emergence of my inverted nipple.

* When stretching overhead there is still some tightness, particularly on the right hand side. I thought this had almost gone a good few weeks ago but it's definitely still there.

* I get the feeling there's still some fat left in my left hand side, and that I might need corrective liposuction as a couple of other of Mr Levick's patients have needed (scroll a couple of pages back you'll find them).

* But we shall see at the 6 month mark. That is when I should be 'fully recovered' according to Mr Levick's office/handbook so for now I'll just keep massaging and see how it goes...

 

 

 

 

 


 

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