Botched gynecomastia surgery. How can I get this fixed? (Photo)

Question

I am a 40 yr old male with a chief complaint of hard nipples. I saw a doctor who had a nurse Lipo my right pec while he did the left. I was awake for the procedure. The right pec is now severely indented and looks like I was shot. He did a revision with almost no improvement but I now have two very visible scars. I would like to get the indentation fixed if possible as I am very embarrassed to take my shirt off in front of anyone. Any help or suggestions is appreciated

Tim Neavin, MD · Answer

Thank you for the photos.  Sorry you are going through this.  I would perform fat transfer to the chest to smooth out the area that is depressed.  This could be improved significantly with high volume  fat transfer.  It may require more than one procedure but I predict the outcome will be very successful.  Be sure to go someone with a lot of experience of both gynecomastia and fat transfer.

Barry M. Weintraub, MD, FACS · Answer

I am so sorry to hear of your experience. Unfortunately, botched gynecomastia results seem to be on the rise. It always pains me to read about patients who desired surgery to be less embarrassed about their chests, who then become equally -- or more -- embarrassed by scars and subpar results. To properly diagnose you, an in-person consultation would be needed. It is possible that fat transplantation would be helpful to make up for the deficit on the right side. Possibly the scar tissue needs to be released as well.  I recommend consulting with a board certified plastic surgeon to discuss your results and see what can be done to improve them.

Mats Hagstrom, MD (license on probation) · Answer

The situation sounds a bit suspect. Different areas have different rules but you may want to confirm that it’s legal for nurses to do surgery in your area. If not perhaps but they were doing doesn’t follow local rules.

It’s going to be difficult to correct having too much fat removed. There’s scar tissue contraction as well.

The revision probably made things worse since the problem was too much fat was removed.

Fat transfer it’s probably the best option but it is going to be limited and require several sessions.

The reason for this is the area is now devoid of host tissue to support any grafted fat. What that means is anything but very small amounts of fat grafted in the area will not survive. In order for fat graft to successfully work there has to be and presence of supportive host tissue.

There’s no easy fix but depending on how motivated you are multiple rounds a fat transfer could build up the volume to at least make the area look better.  A single session will be insufficient.

Best,

Mats Hagstrom MD

Botched gynecomastia surgery. How can I get this fixed? (Photo)

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Everything you need to know about Gynecomastia Surgery

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Botched gynecomastia surgery. How can I get this fixed? (Photo)

Answers (3)

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Recommended reading

Everything you need to know about Gynecomastia Surgery

Our mission is to create a world where every investment in modern beauty is Worth It.