They Said They Had Put It Off for a Long Time Out of Fear of Complications

This person said they had worried a great deal about complications while considering surgery, and looking back, wrote that "with the doctors' ongoing care, it was finished without any trouble."

Let me be clear first: I cannot say that gynecomastia surgery carries no possibility of complications. Because it is an operation that removes glandular and fatty tissue, bleeding, hematoma, seroma, asymmetry, scarring, and temporary changes in sensation can occur. Whether they occur and to what degree varies from person to person, and also depends on the amount and distribution of tissue, body type, and how a person spends the recovery period.

So what we do is closer to explaining in advance what can happen and setting a follow-up schedule to catch it early, rather than guaranteeing that nothing will. I understand the "ongoing care" they wrote about to mean exactly that process. The day surgery ends is not the day care ends.

As for their impression of the first visit, they wrote briefly that the staff were kind overall and that nothing had been uncomfortable.

It is a short answer, but an important one for us. People who come in for gynecomastia are often on edge through the entire sequence — reception, consultation, undressing, examination. That nothing uncomfortable stayed in their memory means, at least for this person, that the path through the clinic was not a burden.

When I asked about their memory of the surgery, they said they had been worried about pain but that it had not hurt that much.

Most people describe the pain as smaller than they had feared once the surgery is behind them. But this is a point where you should know that it differs by patient. Pain varies widely between individuals and is felt differently depending on the amount and location of tissue that must be removed and on one's usual sensitivity to pain. Some people feel clear discomfort for several days after the same operation. Rather than promising in advance that it will not hurt, we prefer to explain what range is normal and at what point you should contact us.

As changes after surgery, they listed exercising consistently, better posture than before, and a difference in how clothes fit.

That posture came first caught my eye. When someone is conscious of their chest, the shoulders tend to roll inward and the upper body to hunch; I often see in the clinic that as that self-consciousness fades, posture straightens along with it. The change in how clothes fit is closer to something that follows from that.

To others with the same concern, they left the advice to get a thorough consultation if complications worry you — along with the note that they personally were satisfied and would recommend it.

I would put the weight on the first part. A recommendation comes out of this person's own experience, and whether surgery is appropriate is something to judge after confirming your own condition through an examination. If you have a worry, the fastest thing is to bring that worry in exactly as it is. Questions about complications are the ones we are asked most often and answer at the greatest length.