For most men facing gynecomastia surgery, the worry starts with pain or scarring. But the ones who have read up on it beforehand tend to ask a question that goes one step further.
The patient I want to introduce today named exactly this as his biggest concern before surgery.
How much to remove, and how much to leave
Gynecomastia surgery is not a procedure where removing more is better. You take out what needs to come out, and at the same time you plan how much to leave so that the contour of the chest still flows naturally. When that balance is lost, shape problems such as the hollowing this patient worried about can occur.
So I went through this with him during the consultation: how hollowing happens in the first place, and how the surgery is planned to avoid it. He told me the explanation took a good deal of the worry away, and the surgery itself went as planned. Of course, tissue condition and recovery differ from person to person, so what applies to you specifically is something to confirm in an examination.
"The clinic was clean and the staff were kind"
That was his answer when asked about his impression of the clinic.
If you walk in carrying anxiety about an operation and the space feels disordered, that anxiety only grows. A tidy environment and calm reception are, I think, part of the guidance itself. We keep working on it so that people can relax a little even before they sit down in the consultation room.
Walking with your shoulders back
When I asked what he most wanted to do after surgery, he said walking with his shoulders back, and trying on fitted clothes.
Those two things sound unremarkable, but for men who have spent years hunched over because of their chest, they are like homework long put off. Surgery addresses the chest, but what really changes is posture in everyday life.
To anyone carrying the same worry
He left a message for men with the same concern, along the lines of: there is no need to be too afraid.
That said, this came out of his own experience. Whether or not you should be afraid is something to judge after confirming your own condition through an examination. If hollowing is what worries you, bring that worry into the consultation room exactly as it is. That is where I will start explaining.
