RECOVERY
All About Gynecomastia:
The pain after treatment of gynecomastia is usually fairly mild. It feels like you had worked out too hard or had been punched in the chest. Patients describe it as more sore than painful per se. And we give you strong pain medicine; if it hurts, the pill will work to take it away.
Right after surgery, you will have a special foam pad over your chest and a vest over that. That original dressing is left in place for two days. On the second day after surgery, you will remove the vest, throw away the foam, wash the vest, and put the vest back on. The longer you wear the compression, the faster the swelling and bruising will go away. In general, I like men to wear some compression day and night for the first month. But you needn’t always wear the surgical vest we give you; most men will buy a tight nylon/spandex undershirt that fits slimly under their clothing.
Some men barely bruise; most will have some diffuse bruising and discoloration over their chest. This usually resolves between 10 and 14 days after surgery.
If you have an excision, you will have a scar around the lower half of your areola. The sutures are all dissolvable and hidden beneath the skin. If there is any hair at all, this is usually well concealed.
For liposuction, we usually use a ¼” incision at the edge of the areoloa, plus either one in the outer part of the crease under the chest or near the shoulder, just in front of the armpit. These can look pink for the first year, but usually fade after that. If you would like to see what these scars look like, please look at the Photo Gallery, where there is a section called, “Swelling, Bruising, and Recovery.”’
