Gynecomastia Surgery

Men who have enlarged breasts (a condition called gynecomastia), may be candidates for breast reduction surgery. In this procedure, your plastic surgeon will typically make an incision in a location that is barely visible and remove excess glandular tissue, fat, and skin. If it’s only fat that needs to be removed, the incision will be smaller because the doctor can do liposuction to remove the fatty tissue.

Your cosmetic surgeon can offer recommendations as to what type of procedure will work best for you. It is likely that the procedure will take 3-4 hours.

After the surgery, which will likely be performed as an outpatient procedure using a local anesthetic and sedation, you will be able to go home the same day. Your surgeon will likely recommend that you wear an elastic pressure garment for up to six weeks. In addition, you may need pain medication immediately after.

Surgery to remove excess breast tissue

If enlarged breasts are significant and bothersome even after initial treatment or observation, your doctor may advise surgery.

Two gynecomastia surgery options are:

• Liposuction. This surgery removes breast fat but not the breast gland tissue itself.
• Mastectomy. This type of surgery removes the breast gland tissue. The surgery is often done using only small incisions. This less invasive type of surgery involves less recovery time.