I’m in the military and had bilateral gyno surgery almost two weeks ago. Developed a large hematoma. Need advice (Photo)

The best advice anyone can give you is to follow your surgeon's suggestions.That being said, if you were my patient, I would:1.  Have you wear a tight rash guard, and on top of that, use the same 6" ace wraps that you are using now, but pin them to the rash guard since, in my experience, ace wraps always end up being somewhere around the waistline and need to be constantly pulled up.2.  I would have you use DMSO, a topical anti-inflammatory used by many athletes, to speed the resolution of bruising, swelling and pain.3.  I have my patients do ultrasound (the kind physical therapists use for sore muscles) 3x per week for 5 minutes on each side after gynecomastia to even out any fat cells that have been displaced and bring blood supply to the area which allows more white blood cells to take away injured red blood cells and heme.Hematomas of the nature that your photograph represents will resolve.  However, the above recommendation decreases the amount of internal scarring as well speeds the resolution of bruising and swelling.

Post op hematomas can be small or large. Small areas can be watched or aspirated. Large hematomas should be either aspirated or taken back to the OR for evacuation. Aspiration is very easy but must be contined repeatedly as the hematoma turns more liquid over the next two weeks. Sometimes there can be a lot of bruising without a true hematoma being formed. In these cases - time, massage, heat and some other supplements or enzyme therapy can help.

Thank you for sharing your question and photographs and I am sorry to hear of your hematoma.  Depending on how large your hematoma is, I would first recommend a well-fitting compression vest to help limit any hematoma extension.  I would then pursue warm compresses, Arnica lotion and oral supplementation, and eating dark leafy green vegetables to help speed resolution.  If at the 10-14 day mark the hematoma remains large enough to aspirate, then I would perform that in the office.  Hope this helps.

First, thank you for your service. I see many members of the military, as one might expect, these men are typically in great physical shape and do not have excess fat. I'm sorry for your experience. Follow the instructions of your physician closely. Hopefully you will have a great result. Should you have any concerns once healing is completed, a plastic surgeon might be able to provide intervention.

Good evening and thank you for question. Management of Hematoma has two schools of thought, in one process the surgeon likes to remove the blood clot by aspiration and in the other a more conservative methodology is followed and the body is allowed to absorb the Hematoma slowly. In a large Hematoma the best thing would be to go in for an aspiration of the blood clot as this would allow much speedy recovery.