unsure what to do next

[d i n x]

march 2010


now





I had lipo only on the nhs 7 months ago , I went back to the surgeon who did the operation and he said that he felt he could not do anything else for me. He then wrote to my gp about getting counciling for me. I went to see my gp and had a little chat and I said I felt that I didn't need counciling, and my gp also works in the breast clincal and told me that it was all in my head and need to be more confident etc and that it would ease off as i get older ( currently 19) . Behind my nipples is hard tissue , what do suggest I do? I wish I had the money to go private

[jakeyboy08]

Hello Mate,

A more then common post these day's, The NHS only really do Lipo most of the time, You do have Gynecomastia by the looks from your pictures.
When pinching the skin around the nipple can you feel a lump at all?
I would recommend getting excition by a private surgeon as they NHS wont really do it 99.9% of the time and you can trust their work 50% of the time.
I know it seems hard to save the money for surgery i was in the same position as you last year. 19 years old needing money for the surgery. I finally saved up enough for poland and went over there and got it done last week.

Have you spoke to your parents or any other friend or family member about it to see if they have the money to lend you?

Jake

[Raider Fan]

Your story is just another example of the failure of socialized medicine.  Many times, it won't pay for quality care or what actually needs to be done.  It's basically the old story of getting what you pay for.  Substandard care is not surprising in socialized medicine.  They avoid paying if they can, and when they have to pay, they don't pay anymore than they absolutely have to.  That is a formula for guaranteeing poor health care, there's simply no doubt about it.  

If ObamaCare actually becomes a reality, this type of thing will start to happen in the United States.  Many of the finest physicians in the U.S. will quit rather than be told by bureaucrats in Washington how to treat their patients.  There's a reason so many people come to the U.S. for the excellent medical care.  But it looks like the U.S. is about to join much of the rest of the world and will also have poor health care. When there is no significant payoff for developing medications or curing disease, the finest minds in the U.S. will choose to do something else.  And who can blame them?  

Unfortunately, you already know what you need to do.  It's either save up and pay for the procedure yourself, or don't do anything and remain unhappy.

[shiftend]

Yeah I have had a simular experience with the NHS. I have seen different GPs and had different answers from all of them, ranging from 'dont worry about it' to 'its aesthetically challenging'. I even got to the point of being in hospital for the OP all gowned up and bloods done for the surgeon to decide he wasnt going to do it.

On the other hand I have had bad experiences with private surgeons, all of whom have advised something different. One just offered lyposuction and another just removal of the gland. Im sure as medical professionals they ought to advise you what the most appropriate treatment is for your case, but I cant help feel they just advised what their practice could offer and make some money from. It seem quite obvious to me that you need both lyposuction and exhision togethter. I have found the experiences and information on this website invaluable for making me aware of what treatments are avialable, who can perform them, and the surgeons record. I have booked up with Mr Karadis to see what he says.

I do think its really bad to offer someone only counselling when from what you have said you can physically feel the lumps. It's totally not a problem in your mind! I would say try and save up and or borrow some money, find a proven surgeon and get it sorted.

[d i n x]

well my after the surgeon who did the operation on the nhs said their was nothing more he could do , i got offered counselling which I turned down.

yesterday i seen a private surgeon at spire Washington , I explained about how i know the breast tissue is still their etc and he examined me and again he said their was nothing he could do as it was the nipple to cave in. He also said he would charge me for the consultation and that I should not be embarrassed by it as its completely fine

is it worth me seeing kardis , o would i be wasting my time travelling 5 hours and the cost of the consultation?

[somedude999]

Sorry to hear you are having so much trouble, had a similar thing myself.

Go and see Paul Levick in Birmingham priory or Alex Karidis in London. They both regularly sort out minor cases like yours and get great results. They also both understand that although its just puffy nips it still affects your life to a large extent.

Had a similar case myself, mine was a worse tbh. Went and saw Paul Levick who was completely sympathetic as he had been there before himself. Had my surgery with Paul and it went great, really chuffed with the result and can't wait to take my little girl swimming and be able to sunbathe with all my friends instead of having to wear layers !!

[thetodd]

Your nipples wont cave in if you go to a decent surgeon

book a consultation with Karidis, he will do it but you will pay the full £4k fee

[Choda]

Bunch of pricks, in your head? Easy for them to say that.

Looks like your gonna need surgery fella with either Karidis or Levrick.

[fingerit]

Mate, I've been down the road with the NHS and they successfully diagnosed my with gyno, which looks quite similar to yours, the younger surgeons that I saw initially told me they would just lipo but then the senior surgeon would come in and say they would need to take the lump (gyno) out and mentioned similar things to me that they did to you about caving in, tethering (where the skint sticks the the muscle tissue due to scaring. Basically scare tactics to put me off surgery. I actually went through that process on 3 separate occasions hoping that I would see a different surgeon, but no, he was so negative and in the end basically said, if I wanted it done, there wasn't a guarantee that I would actually get funding on the NHS anyway. A very negative and demoralising experience which in the end, after coming on this forum, has made me come to the decision to go private.

To say there is nothing more that he can do is bullsh*t, they just dont want to do the surgery because they see it as a cosmetic procedure and especially with all the budget cuts at the moment its probably not on the top of the list of things they do.

I think if you can do some serious saving, budget well and have the goal in mind of having the surgery I think it would be worth it. Even just paying the £75 and go to London to see Dr. Karidis to get a different point of view would be worth it.

There are options for you mate, even having it done abroad. I personally feel paying that bit extra to get a real expert in the UK to do it is worth the money and the sacrifice of saving the money.

Don't lose hope, it can be sorted.

[d i n x]

yer going to see kardis next i think, how do i go about book an consultation ?

[fingerit]

Just email them like I did, or you can ring them up. Have a look on his website (cant post the link on here for some reason), google Dr. Karidis. There is lots of info on there about the procedure.

Good luck dude.

[d i n x]

consultation with dr kardis 18th of july !

[fingerit]

awesome news, hope it goes well, let us know how you get on mate!

[d i n x]

Well I re-arranged my consultation for September 14th , and am having surgery this Thursday (6th of October).

On the 19th of September I went for my blood test at my local gp, they said to come back in 2 days time to collect the results, it then took well over week to get them, just goes to show how rubbish the NHS are.

I had taken a photo of my results and emailed them the karidis office, got a phone call today to say that they were missing data and not all the blood test had been done. I phoned my local surgery and explained to the receptionist but didn't have a clue so told me to come in after 2 when the nurse will be in. I went in and got given the results , I had only been given a brief printout by the receptionist last time I went. panic over!

I also realised I had not had phone call from the hospital so they could get their fee, so I called them today to pay the final amount and apparently their was no room booking for me! the day just seemed to be getting worse. The woman on the phone said she will sort it out and call me back, I never got call back for a hour so rang again. After speaking to guy from admission he said I have been booked in however still need to make the payment, I was using my mam's card and she was busy so asked for a number I could call them back on however I rang a few times but their was no answer so will try again tomorrow morning.

can anyone offer any good post-op advice besides what is written in karidis welcome pack. Anyone know any good vest's I was going to get one off ebay?
after surgery i wont be able to a lot of exercise so was wondering is low carb high protein diet or are carbs required for the healing process?

[jim2509]

Mate, I can't understand why you were told there was nothing they can do to help. I had a quote from Spire and nearly had a heart attack..lol! On Sunday I went to London for a Consultation with Dr Oelbrandt from The SingleBerg Clinic in Belgium, if you don't want to pay UK prices £4000 + but want quality treatment I'd recommend looking him up. Good Luck with your choice, it's crap to hear you've been proper let down like that mate.