Truman Customer Story Column
To Those Who Dread Summer Coming
The hotter the days, the busier the clinic.
The season for thinner clothing—for those worried about gynecomastia, summer is the heaviest time of year on the mind. Because it's the season when you can't hide behind thick clothes.
I share the story of a man who had surgery with this summer ahead of him.
Two worries: the suffering and the result
What this patient worried about before surgery were two things. How much will it hurt, and will the result be good.
After surgery, this patient wrote: "The suffering wasn't really all that painful, and my satisfaction was the highest."
Because the degree of pain and the pace of recovery differ from person to person, I can't say his case applies identically to everyone. Still, cases where the size of the worry and the size of the actual experience differ are more common than you'd think.
Here is the explanation I give in the consultation room. Pain usually subsides considerably within two or three days, and after that few patients report significant pain. What people find more uncomfortable is, if anything, the compression garment. The garment is worn to press the skin, stretched after surgery, closely against the chest so it adheres, and when I explain this reason, most people endure the discomfort well.
The trust a single voice gives
When I asked about his first impression of the clinic, this patient gave an unexpected answer. "The manager's gentle voice gave me trust."
Not a matter of surgical skill or equipment, but a voice. To those who open the clinic door tense, the tone and warmth of the first person they meet can feel like the whole of that clinic. This is why we value the atmosphere of the first consultation.
The goal: now he wants to build his body
When I asked what he most wanted to do after surgery, this patient said he wanted to build his body through exercise. The time of avoiding exercise because of his chest ended, and now exercise has become the goal. And he told us that even now, some time later, he's still glad.
If you're suffering in summer
The words this patient left to others with the same worry touched the season. "If you're suffering from gynecomastia in summer, I truly recommend it."
This is his experience, and whether to have surgery must be decided after confirming your own condition through an examination. But if you're someone repeating the same worry every summer, I recommend changing the direction of the worry this summer. Toward looking into how to escape it, not how to hide.
Summer clothes are thin, so a protruding chest greatly limits what you can wear. So I tell patients who've finished recovery to buy a body-fitting shirt and try it on. When you try on clothes you've never been able to wear, you'll feel for yourself that you've truly become free from the fear that gynecomastia had been.
If you repeat the same worry every summer, I hope you won't hold it in alone but will drop by once and talk. No clinic can be perfect for everyone, but we strive to leave nothing wanting for each and every one.
