Shoulders Back, and Back to Working Out

AnonymousJuly 15, 2026 at 03:08 PM 33
Truman Customer Story Column  Surgery Date 2026-02-13

Shoulders Back,
and Back to Working Out

The worry we hear most often in gynecomastia consultations is, “How much will the surgery put my life on hold?” Will I be able to move around? Will I be stuck in bed for days from the pain? The burden of having to take time off work keeps pushing the decision further back.

One patient who recently had surgery hesitated for a long time over the very same worry. And after finishing his recovery, he started working out again — something he had long put off. Here is the calm, understated story he left in his review.

Dr. Shim Young-jin, Part 2

 
01

His biggest worry was 'the impact on daily life'

What worried him most was how much the post-surgery pain and limited mobility would shake up his daily routine.

But once he actually went through it, he found the pain was at its worst only for the first day or two after surgery — and once past that point, it subsided faster than he expected. The compression garment felt confining at first, but he wrote that even that became comfortable after a few days to a week or two. A recovery that vaguely seemed like it would drag on passes, in reality, shorter and more uneventfully than you think.

First Impression

It's a men-only clinic, so the consultation felt comfortable

02

A men-only clinic made it easier to open up

He told us, “Because it's a clinic with only men, the consultation felt comfortable.”

The doctor explained everything so kindly and thoroughly, leaving nothing out, that he could set his mind at ease. That one remark — that the place where he first talked about his chest felt comfortable — reaffirms exactly why we have kept our all-male system.

03

Waking from anesthesia, it was over without much trouble at all

He remembered the moment he woke from anesthesia and asked, “Did the surgery go well?”

Both the result and the procedure itself, he said, were far less of an ordeal than he had expected. That experience of moving straight into recovery with no memory of deep pain stayed with him most clearly. Having patients come away thinking “that was easier than I thought” — that is what we pay the most attention to in the operating room.

04

“Now, with confidence, back to the gym”

When we asked what he most wanted to do after surgery, instead of anything grand, he chose “walking with my shoulders back.” The clothes he used to avoid because of his chest, he can now wear comfortably — and above all, he has regained his confidence and started working out again.

Asked what he would say to those facing the same concern, he said that he too felt reluctant at first, but since it hardly disrupts daily life, there is no need to be so afraid — get it done sooner, without regrets, and stop carrying the stress.

To Those Facing the Same Concern

"It hardly disrupts daily life, so don't be so afraid —

get it done soon, without regrets."

 

Hearing that everything — from the pre-surgery consultation to the aftercare —

was satisfying is, for us, the greatest reward.

 

Straightening the shoulders you once hunched, and returning to the everyday life you put off —

Trueman Myeongdong will take that step with you.

— Dr. Shim Young-jin, Trueman Myeongdong —