Truman Customer Story Column Surgery Date 2026-04-09
When “It Felt Ordinary”
Is the Best Review of All
When we ask patients about their first impression of the clinic, sometimes this is the answer that comes back.
“It felt ordinary — not much different from the clinics I usually go to.” At first it sounds like faint praise, but I am genuinely fond of this remark. The closer someone is to gynecomastia surgery, the more tense they are from the moment they open the clinic door. If that tension softened into ‘ordinariness,’ it means they were able to settle into their seat and feel at ease. Today, borrowing the calm, understated review of a patient who recently had surgery with us, I would like to speak to those carrying the same concern.
What Worried Him Most
The anxiety of “what if it doesn't go well?”
What this patient worried about most was the outcome.
“I was anxious that the surgery might go badly and something serious would happen,” he wrote, candidly. But once it was done,
“It went well, and I'm glad”
was his whole summary. Vague anxiety is often bigger than the surgery itself. When you understand it accurately and prepare, the outcome settles into place more calmly than you would expect.
First Impressions
Nothing special — and comfortable precisely because of it
Asked how it felt to walk into the clinic for the first time, he said it was
“ordinary — not much different from the clinics I usually go to.”
I try to protect that ordinariness on purpose. Gynecomastia is a concern that is hard to share with anyone, and a clinic that feels showy or intimidating only makes you shrink further into yourself. Being able to walk in and take a seat as casually as you would at your neighborhood clinic — that is the first impression we hope for.
During Surgery
“There's no need to be nervous”
When we asked about the most memorable moment during surgery, the answer was an unexpected one.
“What I remember is being told in the operating room that I didn't need to be nervous.”
Not a technical moment, but a few words offered at his side. Everyone is tense on the operating table. We believe easing that tension is part of our job, too.
After Surgery
A summer where a T-shirt needs no second thought
When we ask what patients most want to do after surgery, grand answers are rare.
His answer was, “I don't think I'll have to worry about it when I wear short sleeves anymore.” The outfit checked and rechecked every summer, the chest covered without thinking — the disappearance of that small, constant self-consciousness is, in truth, the biggest change of all. When we asked him for a word for others facing the same concern,
“If you can, I recommend going ahead with the surgery.”
For every day spent hesitating, the summer after the decision feels that much lighter. Trueman Incheon will walk that first step with you.
— Dr. Sang-gyu Kim, Trueman Men's Clinic Incheon —