Hi everyone, it seems alot of people post here about just one segment of their experience with gynecomastia, such as living with it before surgery, or after surgery. I currently still have the condition, and I have scheduled a consultation with a doctor which is hopefully a stepping stone to surgery in the near future. That being said, I'm posting now because I want to document as best I can every aspect of the condition that I have experienced as well as the process of removing it from my life. I will be posting as time goes on, without the benefit of hindsight, in hopes that people can relate to or learn from my experience.
Anyway, like I said, I currently have gynecomastia in the form of puffy nipples. I'm not trying to say one type is worse than the other but it seems us slender guys with puffy nipples get alot of slack about how its no big deal. They are very noticeable on guys like me because they just look so out of place. The physical aspects aside, I'm sure the psychological effects are something we can all agree on, but I'll get to that in a bit.
I first started noticing my gynecomastia I would say when I was 13 or 14 (I'm 19 now). I didn't think much of it at the time because I had read about the whole puberty thing, and I wasn't worried about it. It didn't truly affect me socially and psychologically until high school. I even remember being in middle school and having a girl I didn't particularly like say to me simply, "nice man boobs." I didn't care at the time, so my immediate response was: "Thanks, you too." It never bothered me and to this day I still laugh to myself about that. And then there was high school. This is where I really began to be conscious about my chest. I new something wasn't quite right. I found myself looking in the mirror much more often from all angles scrutinizing and trying to accept my chest and convince myself that it didn't bother me. I began wearing nothing but dark shirts and sweatshirts whenever it was even borderline appropriate. My social life never existed in high school, I fear because of the gynecomastia. I had a few close friends, who I loved to hang out with and talk to, but my chest still left me self conscious even in those situations. I don't even need to say I avoided the beach and the pool all those years. Even the wind was an enemy. I didn't even know what gynecomastia was until I was a senior; I thought I had just been dealt a sh**ty hand of cards because it seemed nobody else was plagued with this. In the end, it left me feeling unconfident and socially awkward throughout my highschool years. I know that's not who I truly am inside, because I have the ability to be myself when I know that my chest is not a factor.
Another thing gynecomastia has affected is my relationship with my girlfriend. Its swung me in and out of confidence with her more times then I care to admit and to be honest I sometimes can't believe she's still here. Needless to say I've never gotten really intimate with her, i.e. I've never taken my shirt off in front of her. This particular situation applies to the present, so after reading on you'll understand why my confidence has significantly boosted with her, however I am still reluctantly unable to whip my shirt off and give her a good time
..for the time being anyway.
So once I schooled myself up on gynecomastia, I of course got into working out and eating better to see if I could change anything. Of course this was to no avail, as is the case with most slender guys. I sort of blew off the idea of surgery for a while, because I figured I just needed to be more active, since I was quite aware that I should be anyway. Obviously nothing changed, and working out, focusing alot on my chest (which for those reading this is NOT the best idea..) just made the gynecomastia more prominent and distinguishable from my chest muscle. Finally I came to the point where I decided that I wanted to get the surgery. I have a job, a car, and some cash in the bank, but not nearly enough to afford the operation. I also knew that this would be pretty much impossible without letting my parents in on my condition, which I had not done, or anyone else for that matter.
I've seen alot of people ask about this on this site, so here's how I told my parents. I know it takes alot of guts and alot of will to do this, because the emotional and self image scars run very deep, but if you're in my situation, its best. At the point that I was ready to confide in my parents I had gathered basic and important information on gynecomastia and its effects on men of all ages. I had also emailed and received detailed replies from a couple doctors. I took this information, including maybe a paragraph about that gynecomastia physically is, and probably a page and a half dealing with its psychological impacts. On a separate page I had a paragraph of information explaining how gynecomastia was resolved, aka that i needed surgery. So once I worked up the courage to tell my mom I needed to talk about something and sat her down to talk, it took me a solid five minutes to get what I wanted out of my mouth. I told her that this was something that had been bothering me for 5+ years and that it was very embarrassing. At that point I gave her the first paper explaining gynecomastia and its psychological effects. After that, I gave her the one explaining that surgery is my only option, followed by the emails from the doctors. I figured it would be alot easier to put everything on paper rather than try to explain it, which seems to be the preferred choice among guys here. She was extremely supportive, given that I teared up significantly throughout the process. She offered to cover the surgery, but I said I would contribute what I could. She also told me should would take care of telling my dad, which I was thankful for. It turned out that he was supportive as well, but I still couldn't look him in the eye for a week, I guess just a man to man sort of thing.
From that point its just been a waiting game, as I have a consultation scheduled in less than two weeks from now. I can tell you that my emotions have changed alot since knowing that I'm on the road to a new life. I'm alot more socially confident with myself but on the other hand I notice my gynecomastia even more now, probably because now there is no subconscious mental strive to accept it and tell myself to live with it. My mood does swing in and out occasionally from day to day, but overall I know its not that long to wait. I know its the beginning of the end
Like I said over the coming weeks I will update this thread with my progress in the journey that lots of you have taken, are taking, or are hoping to take. Anyway if you made it this far, thanks for reading! I'll will post pictures soon as well.
Topic: The beginning of the end - 2 months post op (Read 10886 times)
Similar Topics
