I Saw Cases That Didn't Go Well, and Worried Mine Wouldn't Either

People looking into gynecomastia surgery generally search for a long time. And search results carry stories of things going well alongside stories of things going badly. As information grows, the mind does not settle; the number of scenarios you cannot verify grows.

This worry does not disappear entirely with a consultation. But it can be reduced. Once you hear, on the basis of your own body, how much glandular tissue you have, where and how much will be left and removed, and what we expect for the skin, the space taken up by other people's cases shrinks. That is why we spend time in the consulting room.

What this person named as the moment that made an impression was the consultation. "Plenty of people probably come just for a consultation, and I appreciated the detailed explanation whether or not you have the surgery."

That sentence serves as a standard for us as well. A consultation is not a procedure provided only to those who have decided on surgery. Sometimes what we find is a condition that does not require surgery, or a judgment that now is not the time. Explaining right through to that conclusion is, I believe, what care is.

This person also wrote that their first impression of the clinic was "clean, easy to get to, and the consultation was kind." The process of getting to a seat in the consulting room is, in the end, part of care too.

In the box asking what they most wanted to do after surgery, this person wrote that they wanted to wear a lot of white.

Light-colored clothing shows the body's lines plainly. So among people struggling with gynecomastia, quite a few have nothing but dark colors left in the closet. Being able to choose the color of your clothes again — it is one of the things people mention most often as having changed after surgery.

In the box for a word to others with the same concern, what this person wrote was a single line: "JUST DO IT!"

That comes out of their own experience. In gynecomastia, the extent of surgery required changes with grade, tissue composition, and skin condition, and whether surgery is appropriate at all differs from person to person. Rather than applying that line to yourself as it stands, it is right to decide after confirming your own condition through an examination.

Still, it is true that there is a stretch in which worry only accumulates while the decision is postponed. What people who have spent a long time in that stretch often say after surgery sounds much like this person's one line.

I hope they choose the colors they want to choose this summer.