Full Story from the beginning.....Real Time with Pics

[decimal]

Best of luck, dude!

[gynecomastian]

So I had my surgery and everything went great!  Feeling great and just hanging out in the hotel. No pain as of yet and all I have taken is tylenol. Of course I will post pics as soon as possible.

[decimal]

Congratulations dude!

Now do your chest a favor, and spend the next 24 hrs or so mostly lying on your back in bed. It helps a lot in minimizing post op swelling and optimizing the healing process. The first 48hrs are very crucial as far as swellings are concerned.

[rickster49]

gynecomastian,

Glad to hear it went well!!

What a great Christmas gift for you.

Please post more about your experience with Dr. Bermant, the day of surgery and post surgery.
He is one of the surgeons I'm considering as well.

Congrats!!!!

[DrBermant]

Congratulations dude!

Now do your chest a favor, and spend the next 24 hrs or so mostly lying on your back in bed. It helps a lot in minimizing post op swelling and optimizing the healing process. The first 48hrs are very crucial as far as swellings are concerned.

Actually to achieve the minimal Swelling and Bruising After Gynecomastia Surgery my patients can continue with gentle activity starting the day of surgery. They do not need to just stay in bed. It is the surgeon, technique, patient education that are the most critical issues. Never letting the swelling start and following my careful patient education process permits typical swelling to peak in the operating room, not after.  Pictures posted on my site are typical results.

That is why many patients can travel after my surgery, sightsee, vacation, or relax. But staying immobile in bed raises other risks.  However, you are correct, push healing tissues to far too soon and you are looking for disaster and complications.

Hope this helps,

Michael Bermant, MD
Learn More About Gynecomastia and Male Breast Reduction

[decimal]

following my patient education process permits typical swelling to peak in the operating room, not after. 

Wow, that is interesting. I always thought that swelling happened few hours after the operation, when the blood gets a chance to flow back to the injury sites.

I was just curious if you do any additional medical procedure to not let the swelling happen after the operation, Dr Bermant. Would be informative to know.

Also, how soon after the operation do you recommend your patients to move their arms about freely, as in full range of motion, both vertically and horizontally?

[gynecomastian]

So I am now 2 days post op and wanted to recap my surgery experience for those of you following my story and considering surgery.  First of all, everything went 'as advertised' with Dr. Bermant.  I am confident that I made a great decision in surgeons and the process has been exactly what you read on his website.  The day of the surgery, I went in and did an anesthesia consultation with Jim.  He is a great guy and has been doing this for a while.  It was my greatest concern but he made me feel at ease.  Before I knew it he had an IV in and started me on some fluids and an antibiotic.  After relaxing for a few minutes he brought me into the OR and kept the conversation going to keep me relaxed and I was out before I knew it.  I woke up and just like they said, I felt fine, just a little tired.  My chest had no bruising and minimal swelling (see pics below).  As far as pain goes, it is uncomfortable, but by no means painful.  Now everyone's experiences will be different, but for me all I have taken is extra strength Tylenol.  I have been limiting motion but traveled to see family over the last two days.  Now I am in what is probably the most difficult part of the entire process, the recovery.  I have a compression garment on and it makes me sweat but it is not that bad.

Now my recovery and ultimately my results rest in my own hands.  My ability to relax over the next few weeks without pushing my tissues and keeping 'light' activity will determine how well this turns out.  I am very happy with my contour but can not wait to see my aerola on 12/30.  Puffy nipples were my biggest concern going into surgery and I just want to take the covering off and see that they are gone.  I am confident that there will be a huge improvement because of the amount of gland taken out but I can not wait to see the results.

I have waited for years to have this surgery and I will follow Dr. Bermant's instructions exactly, there is no way I am going to screw this up now.  Hopefully the compression garment is applying even pressure and I am healing nicely.  Please let me know if you have any comments or questions.  And as always, thank you everyone for your support. 

[decimal]

wow...u look almost exactly like one of the sample pics posted on Dr Bermant's website. I have a feeling you are gonna be added soon up there in the list of successful surgeries. COngrats!

[steelhead]

Nice results so far and they will keep getting better and better.

[gynecomastian]

Thank you for your comments.  So it has been 1 week since my surgery and I thought that I would post an update.  For the last week, I have basically been taking it easy.  Not saying that I laid in bed all day, but I have not been lifting anything and trying to limit the strain on my pecs.  I still visited family for the holidays, went out to dinners, lunch and otherwise lived a normal life.  Wearing the stage 1 compression vest has been 'fun'.  It is not that bad and people do not notice it.  I wear it 24/7 except for a quick shower at night, no more than 10 minutes with it off.  Then I have to reposition the gauze that fills the gaps under tha garment and get it back on.  The biggest issues have been keeping the thing from riding up.  It is not incredibly long so I have to try and keep it down.  It also makes me sweat quite a bit which I have had to make sure I stay clean under my arms and make sure to wear cologne.  As far as my recovery, I am feeling great.  The swelling has continued to decrease and my left side is noticeably large than my right but that is the way it was immediately after surgery.  My range of motion is quickly returning and I think the tape on my nipple is now limiting my movement more than my tissues.  I have been careful not to push myself too hard and be patient.  I am committed to this recovery and will give my body the time to heal.

However, the moment of truth comes this Wednesday.  I really appreciate all of the positive comments and feel good about the contouring.  But the truth is, I did this mainly because of the puffy nipples and a night has not gone by where I have not had a dream that they were still just as puffy as prior to the surgery.  The way I see it, by Wednesday afternoon I should have a great idea as to whether or not the surgery was successful.  Here are more pics to go with the story.  I have put on a little weight this last week, due to my laying around and eating for the holidays.  I am back on my diet now.  Thanks for reading.

[steelhead]

Glad to hear it keep us posted as you go along when you get a chance.
No bruising at all from any of pictures.

[gynecomastian]

Well I apologize for not posting in a while.  I have been pretty busy getting back into the swing of things but have taken pictures along the way.  I will post several consecutive posts to give updates on how things have been going.  So here goes pics from day number 10.  At day number 10 I took off the gauze that covered my nipple.  This was a great relief as my nipples were flat and no longer puffy!  Probably one of the biggest reliefs I have had.  I still had hesitation to get excited because of the steri-strips that still remained.  But at this point I was feeling very well and had no pain.

[gynecomastian]

So here are some pics from day 21.  This is when I took the steri-strips off and this was a great feeling.  The great thing was the nipples stayed flat and did not puff out.   The incisions did look a little larger than I thought that they would but I am not sure if I know exaclty where they start and end.  I have not been able to really scrub the aerola because they are still quite sensitive.  Actually more so than previously.  I think this is probably due to a couple of reasons.  First I think the steri-strips provided quite a bit of protection but second I think that the bulk of the work was done directly underneath the aerola and nerves are still re-generating.

[decimal]

Those are bloody awesome results dude!!!! Congrats!!!

It looks like sheer perfection. Not random person could say that you ever got operated on, if they saw you shirtless!

[postiey]

yes i agree great result dr bermant seems to be the master of gynecomastia! he has had some of the greatest results on here.
good luck with ur healing