Today we’re going to look at before and after pictures of my chest. But first…
It was two years ago today that I had surgery to correct gynecomastia.
For those of you unfamiliar (and I say this mostly for the Googlers who land here as their first visit to What’s a Delmer Look Like) I have a pituitary tumor which used to cause my prolactin to be high and my testosterone to be low. You can read a summary of my story here.
If you’d rather not read it all it’s enough to know that about twenty percent of the population (per autopsy evidence) have pituitary tumors. In a small percentage of these people the tumors result in a high-prolactin / low-testosterone hormone problem.
In a small percentage of the men with this hormone problem breasts grow. And not fat-man-flabby-chest moobs. Real breasts.
I seem to recall doing the math and determining I’d have had a better chance of winning the lottery than getting gyno. Yet, I’m not a millionaire and I have scars.
I also recall reading that if a man has gyno and it’s treated early enough it may go away on it’s own. Also, it isn’t uncommon in teenage boys as their hormones go nuts; in most cases it goes away by itself.
Also, and this is all from memory so do some additional research if you’re looking into this, a lot of times it can be treated with liposuction.
Mine could not be treated with liposuction and required surgery.
Wait, before continuing, click here. Mine looked mostly like that. Not this.
Anyway, I had a mass, about the size of my fist, behind each aureole. If you’re unsure of the size of my fist feel free to imagine it was the size of your fist or any fist nearby. To remove the mass an incision about an inch long was cut at six o’clock below each aureole. (That might be “noon” for those of you south of the Equator. I’ll let you sort that out.)
My aureoles had stretched while I had gyno resulting in a nipple area that was far larger than I liked (larger than Chevy Chase’s in Fletch). During the initial visit with my doctor he had suggested removing each aureole, trimming it, and regrafting it to my chest. He said I’d lose all sensitivity, and there was a chance the graft wouldn’t take and the aureole would drop off — but I was still on-board.
When the time for surgery came the doc decided to fold the skin in on itself and under the aureole. At this point I don’t notice any puckering. My aureoles are not perfectly round but I am able to etch glass when it’s cold outside.
Now for some pictures.
This is from November 13, 2006, or seven days after surgery. You can see the stitches around the aureoles and running down from the nipple area. There’s puckering where the skin was folded to make the aureoles smaller. Also a fair amount of swelling.
A close-up.
The two below were taken today.
The puckering is gone. The scar has lightened and evened out.
I did not apply Mederma to the scarring as long as I should have or it might look better. I’ve got a couple of tubes and I’ll start reapplication to see how things turn out.
Happy 2nd Mammoplasty-Reduction Surgery-versary!
um, and your nipples look just fine.
OWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!
But seriously – I think scars are sexy.
I’m happy to hear things still going well 2 years later.
And I have to agree with Ginger, your nipples look Mauuuuuvelous.
~ZZ
Well I’m glad you don’t have moobs anymore – you rocked the Lance Armstrong outfit.
Seriously though – I’m glad that you were able to get it all taken care of. I’m also a big fan of scars.
Happy anniversary on your surgery. I saw the chest in person and it looks good!
Maybe you should have told them to put a bunch of scars all over your chest and you could say that a mountain lion attacked you but fortunately, the brave man you are, you fought it off.
lmao @elsie !
Oooooor…you could add a few mor scars allover your chest like elsie suggested, and say that a fiesty hot vixen did that to you in a heat of passion.
~ZZ
Just looking at that makes my nipples hurt. Excuse me while I go and retrieve my testicles from where they have retracted into the safety of my abdominal cavity.
Yay! Now we should be best friends! We’ve seen each other’s nipples!
Awesome! Then we should be best friends, too!
Ginger: Thank you.
Sybil: This reminds me that my doc told me of a biker he’d performed the surgery on. The biker was hoping for bigger scars so he could build a story around them.
Greeneyezz: I do feel a lot better without the gyno.
Sheila: I wish I’d known women had a thing for scars when I was younger. I’ve got a nice one on my calf.
Avitable: I’m blushing just a bit.
Elise: That’s the type of thing the biker was looking for.
Icy: Thank God you’ve got extra room in the abdominal cavity now.
Allyson: And your look at mine didn’t cost anything.
Wait. You never paid me to show you mine…you’ll be hearing from my lawyers!
I’m staying well away from this one!! ;o)
I feel like I should buy you a drink after this, or at least give you some beads.
[...] gyno posting from the other day falls into that category and the bonus category of Helping Others Out. [...]
Wow. Very good to see how things turned out after the surgery. Everything has healed so well. Your pics are a lot more revealing then my recent pics. And you went through a lot to get your badge of honor. I’m just trying to lose weight and get in shape.
Whoa. That was some surgery! Now I know why they teased you about showing your nipples (I am reading backwards here). The doctor did some nice work. Nips look great