Gyno Surgery and the aftermath

[raven411]

I had gyno surgery back in April 2002 and it has been a nightmare for me ever since. I have had a total of 6 surgeries to correct not only the gyno but now my deformed pecs. After the first surgery, the had an extremely tight bandage put on me that I had to wear for support but unfortunately it kept slipping down and caused my nips and pecs to be deformed on both sides. The plastic surgeous then went back in July of 2002 and took more gyno out and attached two bottles on each side of my pecs for draining that I had to wear for 1.5 weeks, talk about embarassing. After I went back in, to get the bottles taken out, it was still obvious that I had indention in my pecs which looked like my upper chest had caved in. I was back in the operating room in September, at which time the surgeon decided to take both nips and move them up to see if that works but after a month, it was obvious that it was not going to work. Went back in to surgery in January of 2003 to have collagen implants put in so that it might even out the areas that had the indentation but after 2 months, it seemed to to the trick only on my right side and so the surgeon brought me back in again and put gortex implants on my left side and she thought that I would definitly be ok after that but now it is obvious the problem is still there with the indentation. When I went back in to her office 2 months ago, she told me she did not know what else to do and so she took pictures of my chest to put on a special plastic surgeons website in order to get feedback on how to correct this by other surgeons. This is clearly a case of a gyno surgery gone bad and you guys dont know how embarrassing it is for me to take off my shirt and see all the scar tissue by my nips and to see the indentation on my left side of my pec. I am sure I can sue this surgeon but I am giving her every opportunity to correct this mishap. My advice to you guys is to take your nolvadex and hope you never have to have this surgery because once you have gyno, you have it until it is removed surgically and although my surgeon was board certified, nothing is guaranteed and for 2 years I have had to live with this embarassment.

[HILLBILLY]

Sorry to hear about this bro, But it sounds like the doc didn't know what the hell she was doing. Has she performed any gyno surgeries before?

-JJ-

[raven411]

Prior to having my surgery done, I asked her about if she had done a lot of gyno surgeries and of course she replied yes but she said that I was the first case she ever had that had complications. She stands by the fact the the bandages caused the deformation and not her procedure but at the end of the day, she is responsible for the final result, not the bandages. I will try to find my disk that has the picture of me with the bottles attached to to my nips, I think it would be pretty sobering to a lot of guys out there that think they will never get gyno or some that think they already have it.

Sorry to hear about this bro, But it sounds like the doc didn't know what the hell she was doing. Has she performed any gyno surgeries before?

-JJ-

[rangerdudeleads]

Hey bro I had mine done in Nov and mine looks a little fvked up too. My right nipple is a little caved in and the left one points to the left a little and has a little more tissue around it than the right one. I hated that tight azz bandage you are talking about. I have some pics on here somewhere

RDL

I had gyno surgery back in April 2002 and it has been a nightmare for me ever since. I have had a total of 6 surgeries to correct not only the gyno but now my deformed pecs. After the first surgery, the had an extremely tight bandage put on me that I had to wear for support but unfortunately it kept slipping down and caused my nips and pecs to be deformed on both sides. The plastic surgeous then went back in July of 2002 and took more gyno out and attached two bottles on each side of my pecs for draining that I had to wear for 1.5 weeks, talk about embarassing. After I went back in, to get the bottles taken out, it was still obvious that I had indention in my pecs which looked like my upper chest had caved in. I was back in the operating room in September, at which time the surgeon decided to take both nips and move them up to see if that works but after a month, it was obvious that it was not going to work. Went back in to surgery in January of 2003 to have collagen implants put in so that it might even out the areas that had the indentation but after 2 months, it seemed to to the trick only on my right side and so the surgeon brought me back in again and put gortex implants on my left side and she thought that I would definitly be ok after that but now it is obvious the problem is still there with the indentation. When I went back in to her office 2 months ago, she told me she did not know what else to do and so she took pictures of my chest to put on a special plastic surgeons website in order to get feedback on how to correct this by other surgeons. This is clearly a case of a gyno surgery gone bad and you guys dont know how embarrassing it is for me to take off my shirt and see all the scar tissue by my nips and to see the indentation on my left side of my pec. I am sure I can sue this surgeon but I am giving her every opportunity to correct this mishap. My advice to you guys is to take your nolvadex and hope you never have to have this surgery because once you have gyno, you have it until it is removed surgically and although my surgeon was board certified, nothing is guaranteed and for 2 years I have had to live with this embarassment.

[BrokenBricks]

As a medical student it makes me upset that you assume its the surgeons fault. The doctor didnt screw you up. You screwed yourself up by taking risks that you knew couold,cause gyno. You asked the doc to help you. Somtimes they can sometimes they cant. There are risks that im sure were explained to you.

Now the doc may be a screwup, but simply having a bad outcome is not evidence of that. Sorry i should be more sympathetic.

Is your doc borad certified in plastic surgery, or just board certified in something. Sometimes people will allow you to assume they are certified in an area they are not by saying "I'm board certified"

Did you get any other opinions from other docs are you were upset with your outcome?

how bad was the gyno? have pics?

[raven411]

As a doctor, he or she gets paid to do a service, in this particular case, she chose the career as a plastic surgeon and although they are not miracle workers, this is a pretty standard procedure for most plastic surgeons and yes she is board certified. I have given this surgeon 6 opportunities to correct this mishap, I have never threatened to sue her and I have always been very nice and receptive to all her ideas but it is 2 years and I still have bad scars and an indentation in my chest and I want it fixed. I paid a lot of money to have this surgery done and I expect results, not excuses. You are correct in saying I screwed myself up by getting the gyno in the first place but plastic surgeons get paid to correct these problems and it is not my fault that her tight bandages caused my pecs to cave in. There are good doctors and bad doctors, I feel as though I have a surgeon who just did not do the procedure correctly and ultimately, SHE is responsible.

As a medical student it makes me upset that you assume its the surgeons fault. The doctor didnt screw you up. You screwed yourself up by taking risks that you knew couold,cause gyno. You asked the doc to help you. Somtimes they can sometimes they cant. There are risks that im sure were explained to you.

Now the doc may be a screwup, but simply having a bad outcome is not evidence of that. Sorry i should be more sympathetic.

Is your doc borad certified in plastic surgery, or just board certified in something. Sometimes people will allow you to assume they are certified in an area they are not by saying "I'm board certified"

Did you get any other opinions from other docs are you were upset with your outcome?

how bad was the gyno? have pics?

[einstein1905]

As a medical student it makes me upset that you assume its the surgeons fault. The doctor didnt screw you up. You screwed yourself up by taking risks that you knew couold,cause gyno. You asked the doc to help you. Somtimes they can sometimes they cant. There are risks that im sure were explained to you.

Now the doc may be a screwup, but simply having a bad outcome is not evidence of that. Sorry i should be more sympathetic.

Is your doc borad certified in plastic surgery, or just board certified in something. Sometimes people will allow you to assume they are certified in an area they are not by saying "I'm board certified"

Did you get any other opinions from other docs are you were upset with your outcome?

how bad was the gyno? have pics?

I'm with BrockenBricks on this one. I too am a med student, and it makes me sick how quickly people are ready to call malpractice. That's my segue...medicine is that---a practice. It's not an exact science. Look around and take note of all the external variation between individuals. The same is true internally but to a greater extent. Everyone can't go to the surgeon with 100 so and so operations under his belt because how would surgeons ever get those experiences under their belts in the first place? I'm not saying you should martyr yourself and write it off as a learning process for the doc, but you have to be reasonable about it. Surgeons don't offer guarantees, and you know this going into the procedure. You take this into account and decide for yourself whether or not it's an acceptable risk.
After all, you did do this to yourself by failing to properly counteract the sides of AAS. This doesn't mean you deserve what you had to go through. I think it's great that you post your experience on here to allow a real-world, hit-home case of the potential down sides to AAS use if not done properly.

Primary care physician is a misnomer. PRIMARY care is your responsibility. You can't be a 400lb chain smoker and roll in to the doc's office and expect him to magically rid you of your malady of the day.

Tghis particular surgeon may or may not have had enough experience (who's to say any amount of experience would have changed the outcome?), but you deemed the risk of surgery acceptable and opted to go forth with it.
It's an unfortunate case nonetheless.

[BrokenBricks]

did you loosen the bandages because they were too tight?

[raven411]

No, the doctor wanted me to keep the bandages very tight around those areas, I had to always wrap them as tight as I could for support

did you loosen the bandages because they were too tight?

[rangerdudeleads]

**** I guess we have to wait about a year for it to heal all the way up but my nipples still itch and burn sometimes kind of a stinging sensation. Does yours still feel that way too?

RDL

[rangerdudeleads]

Hey did she try to correct this at her expence? I was just wondering cause I might have to see if my Doc will try to fix my deformed looking nipples.

RDL

[magicstick2003]

that sounds really messed up bros... i think after the first mishap thoguh i would have gotten it check out and got a second opinion from a differetn doc to see if this was in fact her fault or if it was due to the bandage or what not... i wouldn;t have gone back to the same person 6 times if each time it was still messed up.... im a little confused why they put bottles on you to "drain" the area, what in the hell were they draining????? also you say "it was still obvious that I had indention in my pecs which looked like my upper chest had caved in" you must have had a pretty severe case of gyno for it to be spread to your upper chest as well... because usually its located in the region right behind your nip.... im sorry to hear this went so poorly for you, i wish we could see some pics before so we had an idea how bad you had it... i would think that the worse it was the harder it would be to correct and this may be why you ran into problems... in any case i hope everything turns out in the long run, but i would definitly get another docs opinion on this

[raven411]

Unfortunately, there was only one plastic surgeon in my city at the time and the nearest city with more than one was Jax, FL and that is a two hour drive and so I really did not have too much of a choice but she was board certified and has been in the area for a long time. I guess I should explain a little about the chest being caved in. When she did the lyposuction, she did all the areas around the nipples and she told me that I had it really bad and that during the second procedure, she had to take out a little more as well. The tubes or bottles that were attached were to get the fluids that were building around the areas, she just wanted to drain the fluids out of there or at least that is what she told me. It was pretty gross. Tomorrow, I will try to find some before pics as well as after pics to show anyone that might be interested. She told me that eventually she will get rid of the scars by using a laser because it is impossible to shave the hair around those areas due to the skin scars. Since I am new to this forum, what is the procedure for posting pics? Is there a specific area for them?

that sounds really messed up bros... i think after the first mishap thoguh i would have gotten it check out and got a second opinion from a differetn doc to see if this was in fact her fault or if it was due to the bandage or what not... i wouldn;t have gone back to the same person 6 times if each time it was still messed up.... im a little confused why they put bottles on you to "drain" the area, what in the hell were they draining????? also you say "it was still obvious that I had indention in my pecs which looked like my upper chest had caved in" you must have had a pretty severe case of gyno for it to be spread to your upper chest as well... because usually its located in the region right behind your nip.... im sorry to hear this went so poorly for you, i wish we could see some pics before so we had an idea how bad you had it... i would think that the worse it was the harder it would be to correct and this may be why you ran into problems... in any case i hope everything turns out in the long run, but i would definitly get another docs opinion on this

[BrokenBricks]

All im saying is...dont confuse "did not do the procedure correctly" with "did not get the outcome i wanted."

Your right...if she didnt do the work correctly, she is responsible. And of course, I dont know the details of the case so I am not going to try and make that determination. All I am saying is that, bad outcomes happen when procedures are done incorrectly and sometimes when procedures are done correctly as well. So unless you have a reason beyond "it doesnt look good" dont blame the doc. Maybe you do have such a reason. Anyway, you still have my sympathy. Going through six operations and not being happy with the outcome, wether its the doc fault or not, is something i couldnt imagine. I hope you find the result you are looking for and didnt mean to come off as uncaring.

[BrokenBricks]

pics would help

[Jackman]

i would of not gone to the same doctor who screwed up what 4 times? just commin sence to me

[Pwrlfter]

Hmm, it sounds like you are permanently disfigured with alot of pain and suffering. I honestly think it's time for a lawsuit, it won't cost you a dime but the lawyer will take like 35% of the judgement.

[Froggy]

I feel bad for you, Bro. Way to much sh!t to go through.
I can't believe the "medical students" BS!
Get yourself a good lawyer, ASAP.

[rangerdudeleads]

I kept mine tight too..so tight it made it look like my head was way too big for my body cause it was all tightened up tight from that rubbery wrap they use.

RDL

[Grant]

what kills me about some endocronologists, or maybe traditional thinking as a whole, is that many will only use surgery to remove gyno when there are many methods of removing the undesired tissue, when I had a slight form of gyno, the doc i was seeing was fairly new and had not been exposed to gyno before and she had gone to consult the established doc at the firm and he said he only used surgery, he would not even consider arimidex, fortunately i had anticipated his old fashioned approach and took a perscription slip

[magicstick2003]

what kills me about some endocronologists, or maybe traditional thinking as a whole, is that many will only use surgery to remove gyno when there are many methods of removing the undesired tissue, when I had a slight form of gyno, the doc i was seeing was fairly new and had not been exposed to gyno before and she had gone to consult the established doc at the firm and he said he only used surgery, he would not even consider arimidex, fortunately i had anticipated his old fashioned approach and took a perscription slip

you're saying that by taking the arimidex after you got gyno helped eliminate it? im so surprised that now a days they don;t have alternate forms to get rid of it.... you know how they have ultraasonic lipo and **** im surprised they don;t have alternate methods for something as simple as gyno.....i've always had some small lumps from when i was a kid... im not sweating it just keeping a real close eye on it.. i figure if it gets to the point where i don;t htink i can live comfortably with it then ill see what a doc says as for now my nolda and arimidex are keeping everything in check.

[AnabolicSwede]

Sorry to hear that bro.

**** like this really freaks me out. Gives me second thoughts about jumping on gear.

Again, very sorry to hear about all the **** you've been through.

[BrokenBricks]

makes me sick....

"Hmm, it sounds like you are permanently disfigured with alot of pain and suffering"

Its surgery, its painfull and you suffer! does that suprise you?
disfigured? he came disfigured.

Unless the doctor MADE A MISTAKE, you cant blame them. It can take multiple surgeries to correct bad gyno. Its much more difficult than a female breat reduction.

[powerlifter]

Bro sorry to hear that - sounds like time to take some legal action - best of luck

[Froggy]

At what point do you say "The doctor screwed up" ? You read the post, six tries at it. Would it make a difference if he got the gyno without juicing?

[raven411]

Exactly!! The job of a plastic surgeon is to reconstruct. If someone went to a plastic surgery who had a big nose and wanted it smaller and the doc screwed up and disfigured it, is it the fault of the patient because he had a big nose?? No, it is ultimately the doctor because his or her job is to reconstruct to the patience desire and I have given this doc every opportunity to get my pecs back to normal. I came in to her office with bitch tits, not caved in nipples.

At what point do you say "The doctor screwed up" ? You read the post, six tries at it. Would it make a difference if he got the gyno without juicing?

[einstein1905]

Exactly!! The job of a plastic surgeon is to reconstruct. If someone went to a plastic surgery who had a big nose and wanted it smaller and the doc screwed up and disfigured it, is it the fault of the patient because he had a big nose?? No, it is ultimately the doctor because his or her job is to reconstruct to the patience desire and I have given this doc every opportunity to get my pecs back to normal. I came in to her office with bitch tits, not caved in nipples.

It's a calculated risk that the patient takes. Having the "big nose" isn't the person's fault (we'll assume), but their choosing to opt for surgery IS their fault. NO surgery is guaranteed.

The fact that you've undergone 6 surgeries doesn't imply any more fault of the surgeon. The first surgery didn't have the results that you wanted. Based on that, you opted for additional measures and took additional risks with the hopes that your desired result would be met. It wasn't. I doubt the surgeon is satisfied with the results either, but I doubt it was lack of effort on the part of the surgeon. They aren't miracle workers. If you don't want to be facing this type of situation, don't put yourself in the position you did. YOU chose surgery. They didn't bust down your door and strap you down. NO guarantees. Take some responsibility.

[raven411]

Give me a freaking break. After the first surgery my two nips looked horrible. One was pointing up and one was pointing down. I hope your not planning to be a doctor, you have some rude awakenings to look forward to. I did not opt for additional surgeries, it was pretty **** obvious it was screwed up and that fact that you and the other guy are closed minded about the fault of the doctor leads me to believe that you think all doctors are flawless and they simply pay those high premiums for malpractice insurance because they are perfect. Once again, the Plastic surgeons job is to reconstruct, They take a lot of money from patients like myself to perform such a job and if they screw up, then it is their fault. IT IS THEIR JOB!!! What part of this do you not understand, they are not working for free and insurance sure as hell is not paying them.

It's a calculated risk that the patient takes. Having the "big nose" isn't the person's fault (we'll assume), but their choosing to opt for surgery IS their fault. NO surgery is guaranteed.

The fact that you've undergone 6 surgeries doesn't imply any more fault of the surgeon. The first surgery didn't have the results that you wanted. Based on that, you opted for additional measures and took additional risks with the hopes that your desired result would be met. It wasn't. I doubt the surgeon is satisfied with the results either, but I doubt it was lack of effort on the part of the surgeon. They aren't miracle workers. If you don't want to be facing this type of situation, don't put yourself in the position you did. YOU chose surgery. They didn't bust down your door and strap you down. NO guarantees. Take some responsibility.

[einstein1905]

you think all doctors are flawless .

Quite the contrary. They are human beings and nothing more. It seems as though it's you that expects them to be flawless. Their job is to do their best at their particular craft and nothing more.

[BrokenBricks]

At what point do you say "The doctor screwed up" ? You read the post, six tries at it. Would it make a difference if he got the gyno without juicing?

The determiation is made by reviewing the specifics of the case and the doctors actions. This must be done in detail but someone knowlegable about medicine (unless it is somehing blatant like severing the wrong limb) We cannot do that. The number of surgeries neccasary is not evidece of error.

[BrokenBricks]

listen sweethart i never said it wasnt her fault. I said that six surgeries is not evidence that she screwed up. I said that to know i would need some pictures and the case details. I am not closeminded, I want all the info. We haveno clue how bad your gyno was, we have no clue what your nips look like, only your subjective impression. So you give me a freaking break. Nobody said it wasnt her fault. I said, i wanted more info.

[Spyder]

Hey man, good luck with everything. Does make you think twice next about what we're doing.

[BrokenBricks]

looks like a good job to me, other than the small scars which can be taken care of. I dont know why it was neccasary to cut as much as she did. Often a semicircle around the nipple border gives adequate access to the tissue. But if there is enough gyno that type of cut can be nessecary. I dont think there is any problem with the cosmetic result there that wont be fixed by skin resurfacing. What you DO need is to work on your pecs themselves when you are able. No before pictures?
I am very suprised you think you were deformed.

[raven411]

All of my before pics that truly show the extent of the gyno were taken at the plastic surgeons office right before the surgery, I really did not take many pictures with my shirt off previous to the surgery because of my embarassment of my gyno. I am sure that I can in some point in time, get copies of all pics taken during the course of my surgeries

looks like a good job to me, other than the small scars which can be taken care of. I dont know why it was neccasary to cut as much as she did. Often a semicircle around the nipple border gives adequate access to the tissue. But if there is enough gyno that type of cut can be nessecary. I dont think there is any problem with the cosmetic result there that wont be fixed by skin resurfacing. What you DO need is to work on your pecs themselves when you are able. No before pictures?
I am very suprised you think you were deformed.

[Essy]

Are u kidding me. I think that it was the opposite, its a bad job. The scars shouldnt be there.. My friend had the operation and he has no scars at all. I also have gyno and went to see a plastic surgeon. He said he would be cutting on the areola so there would be no or close to no scars. Those scars are on his chest, not even his nipples. I would be pissed. Your going in there to get it fixed, not come out with another problem.

looks like a good job to me, other than the small scars which can be taken care of. I dont know why it was neccasary to cut as much as she did. Often a semicircle around the nipple border gives adequate access to the tissue. But if there is enough gyno that type of cut can be nessecary. I dont think there is any problem with the cosmetic result there that wont be fixed by skin resurfacing. What you DO need is to work on your pecs themselves when you are able. No before pictures?
I am very suprised you think you were deformed.

[chicamahomico]

Thanks for sharing your experience with us. I think the severity of your probelm is most ly in your head......your chest doesn't look that bad. The cut on the left side is a bit excessive and looks way to straight accross, but it's tough to say thats a snafu because of the number of surgeries you've had. IMO bottom line is:

Does it look like you got butchered? no
Can peopel tell you have had something done? yes
Would the average person at the beach give it a second thought? no

[Jdawg50]

thanks bro, just took my .5 of Idex, good reminder. I almost forgot today.
good luck.

[Justoid]

thats certainly a tough experience you went through bro feel for ya. I am going in for surgery next week and am not too clued up on these bandages you have to wear that you guys are talking about? whats the deal with them- ie how long do you usually have to wear them for and are they noticeable under clothes?
cheers bros

[raven411]

You will have to wear the bandages for 2-3 weeks and you will have to make sure when you re wrap yourself after showering that you wrap it very tight above the nips to keep the form because the bandages tend to slide down during the course of the day and so you will find yourself having to re wrap yourself occassionaly if you are doing a lot of walking. The pain is not too bad but the area will be sensitive especially when you are in the shower and the water is hitting that area. I know it does not sound like it will be painful but believe me it will be. The doc will give you Lortabs to take for the pain and that should get your through it but dont freak out at first when you see what your nips look like. With me, I really can not explain what happened and why I have the indentations, I am expecting a call from my surgeon any day to see what the next step will be. I wish you luck on your surgery.

[cuban1983]

i had surgery on Feb. 9th, and since then it has changed my life. What i found really surprising was every question i asked my doctor, he gave me the worst case scenario and did not attempt to qwell my fears. He is from S. Africa, studied at Univ. of Miami, and has board certification in about 5 different areas, including cosmetic surgery. My gyno is pretty much gone, although there is def. some tissue remaining, and im healing surprisingly well. Both pecs do not look exactly the same TO ME, but everyone else who sees them thinks its a big improvement and is generally impressed. Ive even convinced one of my friends to have the procedure. The Dr. is Dr. Hartog in Orlando, Fl. I highly recommend him.

Raven, im not sure of your situation or how severe it is etc.....but frivolous lawsuits are bull****. An operation is a calculated risk, and thats why it your job to research all u can and find a good doctor. Everyones body is different. In my opinion, she has an ethical obligation to touch-up her work until it is finished.....but going into such a procedure expecting perfection is silly. I live in Florida and i have many friends and family who are doctors. Some of them have left because of the lawsuit situation. I am not 100% satisfied with my operation, but he was honest with me, my chest is more aesthetically pleasing then before, and I am happier because of it. You sue when there is malpractice, period. I dont feel such a action is warranted in your situation.