When considering any surgery, an important factor to take into account is what the recovery will be like. For example, how long will you need to take off work? How long until you can resume childcare duties, or how long until you’re back to your normal daily routine? Knowing the steps involved in recovery ahead of time can help you plan for your surgery and ensures you’re prepared to set time aside to rest and recover, allowing you to achieve the best possible results.
For patients having a male breast reduction, it is common to feel embarrassed about this condition, or perhaps even the choice to have surgery. The simple facts are that the condition is extremely common, and the treatment relatively straightforward and simple. If you feel concerned about gynecomastia, it’s also important to note that surgery is the only effective treatment. However, if you feel that you don’t want to tell anyone about your surgery, the quick recovery time for male breast reduction surgery means you don’t have to! You can be back to work within a week, and return to exercise and your daily routine in as little as one month.
In this article, we provide a complete guide to the recovery process to help you plan for your male breast reduction surgery.
What is male breast reduction surgery?
Male breast reduction is a surgery used to treat gynecomastia, and tackle the build-up of fatty tissue in the breasts that marks the condition. Gynecomastia typically presents itself as a painless firm or soft lump behind the nipple, in one or both breasts. For men who go to the gym often, signs of gynecomastia can be more obvious after exercise when the chest muscles are tightened - causing frustration, self-consciousness and worry.
Gynecomastia is very common in men, and not a cause for concern. If you do wish to tackle the issue, male breast reduction treatment is the best option for you, as the tissue is unlikely to fully break down with weight loss, exercise or medication.
Depending on the severity of your case, our surgeon will perform your breast reduction surgery using a combination of liposuction, gland excision, and reduction mammoplasty. For the majority of people, our surgeons take a combined approach; where a small incision is made following the curve of the nipple, allowing our experts to perform targeted liposuction on the fatty element. This is followed by a semi-circular incision made under the nipple which allows us to remove the firm, glandular element. Our surgeons will commonly perform this treatment under general anaesthetic, which can take between 30 minutes to 2 hours.
Recovery
Following your treatment, we like to use the ‘Rule Of One’ as a guide to the healing process.
One Day/Night In Hospital
If your treatment was relatively minor, you can expect a day stay in the hospital, where you will be allowed to leave our practice on the same day. However, for most patients, it is common to expect an overnight stay in one of our private suites at the state-of-the-art Spire Hospital in Manchester. During your consultation, our experienced surgeons will be able to assess the severity of your case and give you advice about the extent of your treatment and whether you will be required to stay overnight.
Leaving Hospital
After your stay, we will discharge you from the hospital and provide you with the relevant information, prescription medication and pain relief to ease your recovery. You should arrange for someone to collect you after treatment, as you may be experiencing some discomfort and will be on a range of medication which may affect your ability to drive or impair taking public transportation. You will have a pressure dressing over your small wound, and, in more severe cases, you may have a small drain to allow excess fluid to drain from the treatment area. Our expert aftercare team will give you advice on how to look after your dressings while at home.
One Week Off Work
You will need to take one week off work following treatment to heal without infection and minimal bruising. Make sure you have arranged beforehand for someone to be available to take care of you and manage your daily responsibilities as you should do as little as possible over the first week post-surgery. Giving yourself this time to rest will ensure you have a quick recovery with no complications, so you can be back to normal as quickly as possible.
One-Week Check-Up
After the first week, we will arrange for you to return to our facility for a wound check where we can assess how you are healing and give you advice on the rest of the recovery process. Every person heals differently, so having this appointment allows us to give you tailored advice.
Following your check-up, you can return to work and life as normal. Your wounds will continue to heal, but any signs of your treatment can be easily hidden beneath your clothing. Especially if you’re still working from home, now is one of the best times to schedule treatment as you can take annual leave and return to your work responsibilities from the comfort of your own home – allowing you to continue healing comfortably. We would advise you not to wear anything too restrictive or irritating until your wounds are completely healed.
One-Month: Return To The Gym
Our expert care team at MPS will always be available via phone or email to support you through the healing process, and you can continue to contact us for as long as you wish with any questions or updates about your healing. For most patients, you can expect to return to the gym - and your full range of daily activities - one month post-treatment.
Bruising and scarring
You can expect to have slight bruising, swelling, and scarring following your treatment. However, we try to minimise the severity of this with our water-pressured liposuction, BodyJet, which allows us to gently target and break down the tissue that needs to be removed. We find this method produces minimal bruising, as it is causing less trauma to the body, and ultimately better results.
Scar formation is inevitable following any surgical incision. However, our experts do everything they can to minimise the amount of scar formed and typically, due to the careful placement of our incisions along the natural line of the nipple, scars are generally well-hidden after the initial redness has subsided.
Of course, the thickness and firmness of the scar will dictate the speed of recovery. Though you can expect the scar to begin to fade anywhere between the first two weeks and six months post-treatment. Massage and return to activity can improve the scarring and swelling, however, it will inevitably take time for your body to heal.
Considering Male Breast Reduction?
If you think you may have gynecomastia and are considering male breast reduction surgery, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. At your free and no-obligation consultation, our experts will walk you through all aspects of the treatment, from cost and associated risks, to recovery time and the results you can expect.
Please complete the form below to book your consultation, and begin to restore your body confidence once more.
