My Whole Story About Gyne From Teenage To Surgery Done Recently [India]

[flatchest]

Hi All,

This is the first time I am posting in this forum. But I have been silently reading the threads for quite some time now. Without the info from this forum, I would never have got the surgery done. So first of all, thanks to the people who started this website & forum and also thanks to the people who posted their experiences. Its time to give back. Let me narrate my story in a timeline.

15 yrs Old: I first noticed gyne. I did not know what it was. I just thought it was some "fat". It was not severe so I just carried on with my life. Sometime when I had to remove my shirt in front of others like swimming, I felt very uncomfortable. It did reduce some of my self confidence.

16-17yr Old: I had a lot of worries about my condition. It was an internal conflict within my mind. I never took any action, never told anyone about it and kept ignoring the uncomfortable reality. I just deviated myself from the thought. It was a very practical example that one can only run away from problems but never can hide from it.

18yr Old: I worked up the courage to find more information & do something. I searched for it online and first discovered that the name for the condition is gynecomastia. It came like a comfort of a warm blanket on a winter night; to know that there are enough people with this condition, enough to have a term/name for it. I learnt that there are surgeons who could correct the problem.

19yr old: I visited a surgeon in a 'big' hospital in a big city and the surgeon told me that within 2-3 years the chest will flatten up. I really did not believe him. I just had an instinct that I would need to get the surgery done sometime.

22yr Old: I started taking some proactive action and discovered this forum. I had maturity and courage to get the surgery done. I saw a lot of doctor's names in this forum and chose the one nearest to me: Dr.K.Ramachandran, Apollo Hospital, Chennai.

Getting the surgery done:

I visited the doctor and he was very casual about it. He made it sound like it was a 'no big deal'. This gave me courage and confidence to go and get it done without much fuss / thinking too much about it. I knew the time had finally come. He prescribed a set of tests to be taken and told me to come visit him again. I did as he told. It cost around Rs.4000 (~ $80) for the tests alone. After looking at the test results, he fixed the date for surgery.

I got the surgery done on 7am in the morning. That was the first time I got anesthesia... it felt great lol . The anesthetist told me that I would start feeling sleepy, and the next thing I knew was that I was moving on the stretcher from the op. theater to the recovery room. It was like a time machine fastforwarding my life. It was 10am then. It felt as if 3 hours of my life did not exist. It was more intense than a deep sleep.

I had bandages over my chest and some manageable pain. There were drains fixed inside... as they said. I had to stay there until evening and then I was discharged. The total cost was Rs.43,000 (around $900) paid to the hospital. (Excluding the test costs). After two days I got the bandages removed. The doc put another pad and put more bandages and then asked to come a week later. I did. He removed the stitches and gave me the compression vest. It looks like I have to wear it for 2-3 months. 24/7.

I am very satisfied with the results and I would recommend you to go to this doctor if you are in south India. Even westerners can come here as a medical tour and get it done. The hospital is definitely of international standard and quality. And the cost would be much less compared to US/UK.

I haven't yet got back to normal routine so I don't yet know how much of a positive effect it would have in my life. I will update this thread in the near future.

A Note to people who want to get it done:

I never forced myself to get it done. I always had it in my mind and one day I felt like I wanted to get it done and I met the doc. In my opinion, the timing was perfect for me... at this time of my life there aren't too much responsibilities and I have a lot of free time. I feel I also have the maturity to manage the pain and discomfort. If I had done it earlier, it may have been a little more tough for me.

This is not an advice but just a suggestion: Gyne Surgery is cosmetic. There is no urgency to get it done. Think it of as buying a new shirt, getting a new hair cut or just buying a new watch. Just as you would feel better after wearing those, Gyne surgery would make you feel better. The point to be taken here is that... don't think of gyne as a major problem in your life. Don't let it reduce your self confidence or interrupt your normal life. Work up the courage to go to swimming and get comfortable with it. You may even want to think it of as 'good looking' when you look in the mirror. Just develop a positive attitude.

You are right where you are supposed to be in your life... financially, emotionally, logically, physically & spiritually. And the only thing that is constant in the world is CHANGE. So don't worry... there is no problem in the world that time cannot solve. Stay alive, keep breathing. Hope for a better future and your hope will become reality one day.

That always has been my life's philosophy

Good Luck.

[miehellatisut]

this post made me allmost 

[Prithvi]

hey .
        i am feelin much confident after reading ur post.is it essential to hav sum one wit us or can do it alone huh ...also please post some pictures......