31 Yr Old African American Male

I'll use this post to reference the consultation onward. So the staff at Dr. Lawton's office are nice and friendly. Just like any other doctors visit there's going to be a wait. Once you're seen, you understand why. After surgery, he's bouncing between consults and follow ups. Even so, it's not a rushed interaction, he's very detailed in setting expectations for what it is you're desiring. I would just suggest coming prepared with whatever questions you may have.
After my questions were answered, and after reviewing his work there was a lot to consider. Initially I wanted gynecomastia surgery but because of my situation he made it clear that to receive the results I want I would need a mastectomy. The lipo done in gyno surgery would remove the fat but there would be skin remaining. Ultimately a decision between scars or man boobs. But he assured me with my muscle composition and skin elasticity etc., that I'd be a "prime" candidate.
Decision to lipo was because I've realized my genetic disposition for weight gain, plus there was a combination special so i thought I'd look into it. I have to say though, I've seen a lot of people with lipo, celebrities and "models" included, Dr. Lawton's results are by far the best lipo I've seen. You can generally tell with most people because they have dents and lumps that are consistent with having large amounts of fat suddenly removed. So that made proceeding all the more appealing.
Well ultimately I went through with it all. Surgery was scheduled two weeks out from the consult, had to get all the scripts, prepare food specialized for recovery, and get a caretaker situated for transport back and forth. In my next post I'll highlight surgery day and post op results.

Posting with hope that this review may be the motivation for someone who is in the fence about the physical and mental benefits of having gynecomastia surgery completed.

Let me start by saying that as the title suggests, I'm a 6'6 (198cm) 300lbs (136kg) ~29% body fat African American male. This is the heaviest weight I have ever been but this is more of a recent development due to immobilization from a near death experience. Normally I would be at 275lbs (125kg) ~17 body fat. That being said, we'll move on to the history leading up to where i am today.

Adolescence and teenage years:

In typical fashion with the rest of these man-boob reviews, I was primarily a skinny kid gained weight around 10 and 11 years, and by 12 and 13 I had full on boobs. Where I first became super self-conscious about their appearance had to be during 8th grade basketball tryouts, where the coaches instructed a "shirts" vs. "skins" scrimmage. Take a guess as to which side I had to play... Both during the scrimmage and after the laughter was so intense that people started gathering outside of the gym to get their laugh in. It was described to me as "two golf balls" jiggling from my chest, this coming from my friends at that time.
From that point on I was determined to do what I could to rid myself of them. I enrolled in every sporting activity available just to keep active, the activity was constant but apparently not enough to drop enough weight. Then came the hardest obstacle - dietary change. Why this was hardest was because I stem from a family that discourages the waste of food. Whatever is served, you finish that [RS bleep] because there's no telling when your next meal will be. So it wasn't until sophomore year that the results really set in. I managed to drop 70 lbs (32 kg) from all over my body except my chest. Since this time, 18 years and counting, I've always worked out 5 days a week with extreme emphasis on my chest to the point where I had to come to the realization that no matter what I do, the only thing that will give me the body I seek is surgery. I've put this off for a multitude of reasons. First being financial, I never thought I'd be able to have the finances these tv personalities had to go through such a thing. Secondly was the stigma of being "fake" and "not working hard enough." Plenty of infomercials and "health experts" wil constantly lead you to believe that the problem lies with YOU and your methods and paying them for their outrageous methods will work, despite then having gone through surgery themselves. I wasn't dumb enough to believe any of that but I wanted to be sure to try anything within my control before even considering surgery. I'm not a vain person and for the most part don't really care what others have to say about me. So despite my issues with my chest I've rarely felt compelled to keep my shirt on while swimming or any other of those common insecurities that come with moobs. But I personally didn't feel like myself and who I've worked to become for 18 years of effort, so I decided to change focus and see what will pay off.

Choosing a surgeon:

I have a friend that was pretty open to me about their surgery and suggested that I conduct research on Real Self. The domain name alone resonated with me. Unfortunately for us men there aren't many detailed reviews, especially with photographs so it made things a bit more tedious but ultimately it came down to a few things: The results of those with similar body types (from what I could find), location, and price. After two years of research i narrowed it to three surgeons: Dr John Nguyen, Dr Robert Caridi, and Dr Gary Lawton. Ultimately, I chose Dr. Lawton's office. I will return with a review and pictures of my experience in my next post.