The Summer Compression Garment: I'll Be Honest

The Summer Compression Garment: I'll Be Honest

What the pain was actually like

In this patient's case, he said the pain after surgery was less a severe ache than a feeling like muscle soreness after a workout. And he wrote concretely that there was an intermittent throbbing sensation around the nipple.

This throbbing is a change in sensation that can appear as the tissue and feeling at the resection site recover, and in his case it subsided over time. But because the degree and pattern of pain differ from person to person, it's best to describe the sensations you feel during recovery just as they are when you come in.

In my experience, pain usually subsides considerably within two or three days, and after that few say it hurts. So in the consultation too, I tend to say in advance, "It changes after just a few days." Enduring it not knowing how long it will hurt, versus enduring it knowing the rough duration, are completely different, I think.

And the summer compression garment

This patient wrote:

"The compression garment is definitely uncomfortable in summer—lots of sweat..."

A fair point. If I told you the summer garment is pleasant, that would be a lie. Instead, we guide you through the knacks together. Wearing a thin, breathable inner layer underneath; preparing a spare and changing when it gets sweaty; and adjusting the wear time to match the recovery stage. The wear period and method we adjust together at each examination while watching the course.

I also explain why you wear the garment. Once tissue is removed in surgery, the skin that had stretched remains. Pressing that skin closely against the chest so it adheres is the garment's role. When I explain this reason, most people endure the discomfort well.

To be honest about one more thing: for the 12 to 48 hours right after surgery there is a risk of bleeding, so we add compression over the garment. Because the chest and abdomen are tightened twice over, it's admittedly uncomfortable. But when you come in the next day and we check for bleeding and remove the extra compression, it becomes much more comfortable, with no great strain on working life.

The moment he felt reassured

This patient said that after surgery, along with words of encouragement, he felt reassured when he was guided step by step through how to wear the compression garment. Even if the discomfort of recovery can't be removed, we can turn it into something that can be managed.

Taking off his top at the pool

For what he wanted to do after surgery, he named taking off his top at the pool, and wearing white clothes. The things those who come for gynecomastia have put off are mostly this small, and so remain on the mind that much longer.

Summer clothes are thin, so a protruding chest greatly limits what you can wear. So I recommend to patients who've finished recovery that they buy a body-fitting shirt and try it on. When you try on clothes you'd never been able to wear, you'll feel for yourself that you've now become free from the fear that gynecomastia had been.

"I should have done it even a day sooner..."

This is the line this patient left to others with the same worry. It's a reflection from his experience, and whether to have surgery is best decided after confirming your own condition through an examination.

Just like this patient's honest review, which wrote even the sweat and the garment as they were, we too won't tell you only the good side. Whatever you're curious about, I'll answer just as it is.

It's not too late to decide even after hearing all the uncomfortable parts too. I hope you won't just keep searching alone but will come and ask. I'll tell you honestly as far as I know, and I sincerely want to help.