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The Moment Two or Three Years of Deliberation Feel Wasted
The Moment Two or Three Years of Deliberation Feel Wasted
When I ask patients who've had gynecomastia surgery for a review, there's something that comes out before the surgery itself. The time it took to decide on surgery.
Not months but years. The person in today's story wrote that time as two or three years.
Pain, lack of information, and others' eyes
What this patient worried about before surgery were three things. Worry about how much pain there would be, the lack of information about what and how to look into, and the eyes of those around him.
When these three overlap, the deliberation can't help but grow long. In his case, what untied that knot was the consultation. As he was kindly guided through the things he'd been curious about one by one, vague worry turned into a concrete plan, he said.
The more someone has looked into it alone for years, the more questions they have. I think the best way to ease tension is to explain again however many times, until those questions run out. Not an explanation to obtain a surgical consent form, but a conversation meant to bring the patient into the operating room only after confirming their mind has eased.
The first day he came, he made up his mind
When I asked about his first impression of the clinic, this patient said that from the moment he first came, he made up his mind, "I'll do it here." That a man who hesitated for years decided on his first visit means, I think, that what had been lacking all along was not resolve but a place he could trust and ask.
The feeling of waking from sleep
When I asked about his memory of the surgery, this patient wrote:
"It just felt like waking from sleep, and I felt so at ease that the surgery was already over."
The time he'd feared for years had, in reality, passed in a short while. Of course the surgical course and how it feels can differ from person to person.
The surgery is done under local anesthesia with an injection around the areola. The last words the patient hears are, "This will sting, please bear with just this part," and the actual operating time is about thirty minutes. Through years of accumulated surgical know-how I've shortened the time considerably, because a shorter operation is safer for the patient.
The things he wants to do again
When I asked what he wanted to do after surgery, this patient named starting exercise again, and not shrinking back in places where you have to take off your top. At the pool, at the bathhouse, on the sports field—moments that are nothing to others were, to him, moments avoided for years.
Gynecomastia surgery, I think, is not a matter of physical change alone. The posture of a man walking with his shoulders back appears when he is undiminished and full of confidence. Especially for younger patients, that confidence often sways other areas of life too, so I regard this part as important.
What was wasted was not the surgery but the time
When I asked for a word he'd like to leave others with the same worry, this patient answered:
"I deliberated for two or three years, and I feel that time was such a waste."
This sentence is his experience, and whether surgery is needed is something to judge after confirming your own condition through an examination. But the time that flows by while you put off even the confirmation cannot be turned back.
I hope you won't worry alone but will come in for a consultation. From the moment you come in and talk, the resolution of the worry begins. I may not be able to solve everything, but most people leave with their questions sorted out. I sincerely want to help.