My Gynecomastia Journey: From Self-Consciousness to Surgery & Recovery

If you’ve found this article then you’re likely no stranger to gynecomastia. Perhaps you’re someone who suspects they have it.

I first suspected that something was unusual with my body when I was 10 years old. I was always a chubby child and was frequently teased about this at home. One summer we went to the beach and as I stood there in my trunks, I felt myself becoming increasingly self conscious about my chest. As the years went by, I lost weight, but would fixate on the fatty tissue around my chest – so much so that despite the world telling me that I was thin and in good shape, I would look at my fatty chest in the mirror and be convinced that I was clearly overweight. I would never be caught in a T shirt unless I wore a shirt or jumper over it. One evening, at the age of 15, I recall my parents had invited the family over for dinner. To my dismay, I had no clean shirts or sweaters to wear, so I went downstairs in my trench coat.

It wasn’t until the age of 26 that I finally accepted that I had a problem, that instead of constantly fixating on my chest, praying that consistent dieting and masking will hide the problem, I would seek treatment. I visited a private clinic and had my surgery on a payment plan. I had to take a couple weeks off work and told my family that I had fallen down the stairs at work and hurt my back, hence the compression vest and inability to move around too much. To this day, many years later, nobody from my family knows that I had surgery.

The surgery was relatively straightforward. The doctor greeted me in the morning and explained the procedure what he would be doing. He explained that the tissue in my chest was small, and most of the surgery would be made up of liposuction. Within a couple of hours, I was bandages up and out of there. I wad given a couple of compression vests to wear and asked to remove the bandage after day 5. This was the part that I was most nervous about, but when the day came, I hopped into the shower and managed to remove the bandage as seem my chest for the first time looking excellent. Ofcourse, it was bruised and yellow, but it was flat and without the lumps that I’d been accustomed to for most of my life.

As the months went by, I became more and more used to life without gynecomastia. I was able to walk around in T-shirts without feeling self conscious. I went back to the gym and began working out my chest, something I would whole heartedly avoid in order to prevent it from becoming too big and making my issue worse.

it has been 4 years since my surgery and gynecomastia is something I never think about. However, it is interesting to point out that the effects it had on my mental health are certainly prevalent even today. To this day if someone touches my chest, I instinctively feel uncomfortable and self conscious. I slouch when standing, something I used to do in order to hide my chest. This condition might seem minor, perhaps even humorous to some – but I know how debilitating it can be and hope that those suffering with it can appreciate the time we live in and how easy and accessible treatment can be.