Gynecomastia Surgery Options

Posted on Friday, March 22nd, 2013 by Dr. Babak Dadvand

Gynecomastia is a condition that affects men of all body types. Once other causes of gynecomastia, such as medications, hormone imbalance, and other endocrine issues have been ruled out, surgery can be considered as treatment. There are different types of gynecomastia, and accordingly the surgical procedure should be tailored to treat the type of gynecomastia that patient has.

In some men, their gynecomastia is all fatty tissue. Their chest will feel soft with no specific firm area, especially under the areola. This form of gynecomastia is called pseudogynecomastia. The treatment of this form of gynecomastia is liposuction. Whether using ultrasonic or superwet technique, the gynecomastia in this patient is very effectively treatment with one or two small incisions (usually 3mm) whereby a small cannula is used to remove the fat.

In a majority of men with gynecomastia, they have firm tissue, especially centered under their areola with extension out to the side. This is true gynecomastia and the firm tissue is breast tissue. This tissue cannot effectively be removed with liposuction. The best treatment for this is direct incision. A small incision is made along the lower border of the areolar (around 2 cm) and this glandular tissue is removed. Depending on how large this tissue is, in some patients a drain may be used for a few days after the surgery in case there is fluid accumulation in the space the tissue used to occupy.

Some men present with a combination of both glandular and fatty tissue excess. In this case, liposuction in combination with direct excision must be performed to give the patient the best result possible. Again a drain may be used, but only if there was a large glandular component to their gynecomastia.

Finally, some men present with not only with excess breast or fatty tissue, but also with excess skin or droopy chests. In these cases some form of skin excision will need to be performed to lift the nipple to its original position as well as tighten the skin. This will require additional incisions on the chest with the trade off being a much better contoured chest.

To learn more about gynecomastia and to view before and after pictures visit my website at drdadvandplasticsurgery.com.

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