surgery on the NHS??

[glasgow]

hi i,m new to these forums and know i have Gynecomastia. I,m 18 and still at college and was wondering if it is possible to have surgery done on the NHS?? Has anyone on here had it done on the NHS and what is their experiences of going down this route??

[Its Gone!]

hi i,m new to these forums and know i have Gynecomastia. I,m 18 and still at college and was wondering if it is possible to have surgery done on the NHS?? Has anyone on here had it done on the NHS and what is their experiences of going down this route??

It's really hit and miss im afraid. Very incosistent. Believe me i'm speaking from experience. Heres mine:

I went to my GP and reported my gyne. I was initially told to 'wait and see' for a year pr so.

Anyway to cut a long story short I eventually went back and talked them into the surgery. And I really mean talk them into it. It was not easy. I had to see my GP and have bloods and really plead my case and how I couldn't live with it. Then I waited 4 months to see if i would be reffered to a consultant (not the surgeon) That did happen. Then I got put on a waiting list not sure what the outcome would be, as it was more of a case of being on a possible candidate list rather than a waiting list. All I was told by the consultant was that he would reccomend my severe glandular gyne (golf ball sized glandular gyne behind each nipple) was something he would reccomend was treated.

Eventually I get confirmation i'm getting the surgery and im on an official waiting list. This was about 2 months after seeing the consultant.

When the day came (about another 3- 4 months later) the surgeon in question was NOT A PLASTIC / COSMETIC SURGEON. But a 'general' surgeon. He was very negative with me. Im lying in the hospital bed, ive never met him before, I had tons of questions to ask him and he just told me this is how it is. "You don't need this surgery it's cosmetic". "You may lose a nipple in which case you may need a tattoo of a nipple done". He freaked me out to say the least. I asked him about using lipo, as i'd done my research and the experts seem to reccomend using excision plus lipo to 'blend' in the cavity. He flat out said NO. It was not open for discussion even though it was mainly galandular I did have a little excess fat in the chest area at the time.

I was desperate, I was poor, I went ahead with it feeling very uncomfortable and made to feel like a burden on NHS resources, even though living with the gyne was literally killing me inside. Confidence wise anyway.

I had the surgery, it was an improvement, but it wasn't very good. He left a lot of the gyne still in. He refused to remove all of it, or at least even try and remove as much as possible as he said i'd have a crater effect and it was too risky. Even though I was very fit and healthy at the time with good skin elasticity and a good body shape other than the gyne.

The bottom line was: I wasn't impatient, I gave it every chance to recover, my research showed the full results often take 6 months to a year to be fully shown.

A year later it was still pretty bad. I'm not being melodramatic, it really was still noticeable even through a t-shirt, although it was slightly better hidden in a thick shirt. On the good side the scars were not bad. Although I do not scar easily.

I tried several times to get in touch with the surgeon to express my concerns. I felt i'd been very patient. In the end all I could get hold of was his secretary who eventually told me "We do not perform cosmetic operations, we simply attempt to bring the gynecomastia within 'acceptable parameters'. And that was that.

I fell into a depression over this. I felt cheated, sure i'd paid nothing for the service, but I invested my time and patience into this.

The bottom line was I ended up going private and I got an incredibly confident optimistic PS who said he would do everything he could to help me. He did. The result was amazing. I did get some scar tissue form, but he treated this pro-actively with a course of cortico steroid injections which softened and broke down the tissue.

I've heard others who have had similar experiences, but many who have had very good results.

I would strongly advise going private. Gyne is too serious to take chances with.

I wish I could be more positive about the NHS, but i'm sorry that's just the way it went for me.

[glasgow]

that was my fear to be honest as i,ve not had the best of experiences with the NHS in the past. How much did it cost to go private?? and can you pay it up in any way?? I didn't really fancy going through the NHS and your experience has more than confirmed that going private would be the way to go as i want to get my life back on track as quickly as possible. What was the timescale for your recovery?? thanks again!

[tazz]

hi glasgow,

my experiences are exactly the same as its gone!`s.
had the op done on the NHS by a general surgeon and the results were less than impressive. went back to seek help as was told "we are not plastic surgeons" and as the result was within their parameters, thats was it.

i was in despair and put on some weight to help "cover" the moobs, people with big belly sometimes have big moobs. sounds crazy but i think at least some of us can relate to that one.
it wasnt untill long after the op i discovered this board (which has been a great help) and it enabled me to understand exactly what was going on with my body and in turn helped me to make the decision to go private and have the op done again.

i put my trust in a surgeon called Dr. Karidis in london, im now 9 days post op and all seems to be going fine. the cost was £4500 and i did notice there was a payment scheme available. im sure other surgeons off this service too.

good luck with your choice and i hope it all goes well for you.

tazz.