I Work with My Body — Will That Be All Right?

What worried this person most while considering surgery was whether it would interfere with daily life. Given the physical nature of their work, that is understandable.

In the review, they wrote that looking back, it had not interfered. That passage, though, is more accurately read as this person's case. Recovery speed varies with the amount and location of tissue to be removed, body type, and the intensity of the work you actually do. Returning to desk work and returning to work that repeatedly uses the upper body are not measured by the same standard.

That is why we ask about your occupation first. When you can do what has to be explained differently for each person, and the more someone's work involves the upper body, the more we stagger the return. If the schedule is what worries you, it is best to raise that worry at the consultation.

About the first visit, they wrote that the consultation was comfortable and that they liked how each thing was attended to one by one.

Gynecomastia consultations take time partly because there is a lot to explain, but also because it takes time for the patient to get out everything they want to ask. That is especially true of someone who has thought about it alone for a long time. When we get an answer saying the consultation was comfortable, I am at least reassured that we did not rush that particular hour.

As for their memory of the surgery, they said they had been frightened and shaking beforehand, but that they truly closed their eyes and opened them to find it over.

Gynecomastia surgery is performed under sedation. From the patient's point of view, only the moment of closing their eyes in the operating room and the moment of opening them in recovery remain. That is also why the wait beforehand feels longer than the surgery itself. The time they described as frightening was the time before lying down on the table.

In the box asking what they wanted to do after surgery, the answer was short. That they are wearing the short-sleeved clothes they like.

I liked that it was written not as a plan but as something already being done. Of all the things people with gynecomastia have avoided each summer, this is the most common. Changing over a wardrobe may not look like much, but if it is something you have not been able to do for years, it is a different matter.

To others with the same concern, they left the thought that there is a lot to worry about at a young age, and that they greatly regret not having done it sooner.

It is something I often hear from people who are satisfied after surgery. But I would rather not pass it along as a message to hurry. Depending on the condition, gynecomastia may call for surgery or may be something to monitor. The way to reduce regret is not to decide quickly but to confirm accurately what your condition is right now. If you confirm it and then decide to wait, that is a perfectly good decision too.