Gynecomastia refers to excess fat or glandular tissue in the chest, causing an overdeveloped appearance. While hormonal imbalances can sometimes resolve the issue, surgery or liposuction is often required when gynecomastia is due to weight gain or other factors.
Causes of Gynecomastia
Benefits of Treatment:
Gynecomastia surgery removes fat cells permanently, helping you achieve a firm, masculine chest contour.
The gynecomastia surgery typically takes 1–3 hours, using either local or general anesthesia. Depending on the case, liposuction, excision surgery, or a combination of both is performed. Incisions are made along the lower breast fold, with the option to remove excess skin and reposition the nipple if necessary.
After the procedure, minor swelling and bruising are common and will subside within a few weeks. Patients must wear a compression vest for 4 weeks to support healing and reduce swelling. Most can resume normal physical activities about 1 month post-surgery.
Unfortunately, there is no single cause for gynecomastia. While gynecomastia typically affects young men going through puberty and older men facing hormonal changes later in life, gynecomastia could also be caused by genetic factors, the habitual use of anabolic steroids, the abuse of marijuana and alcohol, the use of certain prescription medications, and weight gain.
This answer depends on what is causing your gynecomastia. While eating a balanced diet and exercising regularly may reduce the appearance of your gynecomastia, oftentimes surgery is required to completely get rid of a puffy appearance. This is because gynecomastia often causes an excess amount of breast tissue to form in the chest, which cannot be eliminated the same way fat can with an active lifestyle.
Yes, gynecomastia surgery is completely safe. Board-certified plastic surgeon, Dr. Troy Austin, has years of experience performing gynecomastia surgery on his patients. Depending on the extent of your procedure, either local or general anesthesia may be used. Then, the excess fatty deposits in the chest are carefully removed via liposuction and excess breast tissue is carefully excised. Patients can make a full recovery within just four to six weeks.
Once fat and breast tissues are removed from the treated area, they are never replaced with new tissues. That means the results of your gynecomastia surgery do have the potential to be permanent. That being said, there is still a possibility that weight gain will cause a puffy chest to reappear. To maintain your desired results, we encourage you to lead an active lifestyle and maintain a balanced diet.
The length of your gynecomastia surgery will depend on the extent of treatment needed to achieve your desired results. While most gynecomastia surgeries can take place within one to two hours, the time it takes to complete your surgery will be individual to your body and your desired results. To get a better idea of how long your surgery will take, we encourage you to come in for a private consultation with Dr. Troy Austin.
