26-year-old male patient following gynecomastia surgery
What Affects The Cost?
When it comes down to what it costs to undergo a gynecomastia surgical procedure, it is imperative to understand the variables that interplay to determine its final cost. First and foremost, the most important variable is your goal. Next is our physical examination and findings.
Some of the questions we think about include: Are we dealing only with a fatty tissue problem, or do we have glandular tissue that we need to address? Do we need an incision to excise the gland? Will VASER-assisted liposuction alone be sufficient? Do we need to tighten the skin with Renuvion J plasma? Do we need to transfer fat to create our signature armor plate? These considerations will take us down various pathways with variable durations of operative time. That’s just the start. We then sprinkle in our board-certified anesthesiologist, stellar operative team, and state-of-the-art technologies, and voila, we get our operative cost.
But, to further understand the cost of a gynecomastia procedure, we must understand what gynecomastia truly is. Gynecomastia is a male condition in which glandular tissue of the breast grows and results in what is commonly known as «man boobs» or «puffy nipples.» The growth of glandular tissue directly results from ratio imbalances between estrogen and testosterone. Now, you may question, «there is estrogen in a male?» The answer is yes. Both males AND females produce both hormones, and this is completely normal! The ratio of estrogen to testosterone helps delineate who will have a «man boob» and who will have an armor plate appearing chest.
What Can Cause the Hormone Imbalance?
Hormone imbalances can occur for many reasons. These include medications, imbalances in the hormone distribution pathways – which often occur due to autoimmune disorders – or can be related to self-limiting tumors, or chronic smoking of marijuana. Regardless of the cause, our male patients’ first concern isn’t just having a growth in their chest. It is the embarrassment that comes with appearing shirtless with feminine-looking breasts.
The Cost
Your goals determine the cost of a gynecomastia procedure. Let’s assume you are already lean and have a great chest platform. You may want the glandular tissue resected to get a flatter appearing chest contour. How we do this is simple. We directly excise the discoid glandular tissue of your chest by an incision under your areola. Plastic surgeons refer to this as the infra-areola crease.
We’ve been talking about the physical examination as a critical cost variable. If you have a lot of fatty tissue in addition to the glandular tissue, your plastic surgeon can use VASER-assisted liposuction to supplement glandular excision. The procedure can use VASER liposuction to drill through and remove the gland, thus avoiding direct excision. Suppose you need to remember what VASER-assisted liposuction is. In that case, it’s a proprietary liposuction technology that uses ultrasound power to emulsify or liquify fat, scar tissue, and even minimal glandular tissue. We then use traditional liposuction cannulas to remove undesirable tissues.
VASER Liposuction in Gynecomastia Surgery
In summary, VASER is an extremely powerful tool that not only emulsifies your fat but may break down your tough glandular tissue. The decision of whether to use VASER-assisted liposuction versus direct glandular excision is made based on the amount of discoid glandular tissue that we feel during your examination. VASER technology is minimally invasive and performed through small poke-hole incisions. As a result, VASER-assisted liposuction to correct gynecomastia is associated with a lower cost. This is in contrast to the combination of direct discoid glandular excision and liposuction. With VASER-assisted liposuction alone, surgical costs start at $5,000. On the other hand, VASER-assisted liposuction and direct glandular excision surgical costs start at $8,000.
If you’re trying to figure out whether or not you have discoid glandular tissue, feel directly behind your areola. Do you feel a hard disc or almost coin shape ball? If you answer yes, your glandular tissue may be generous and require direct excision. A physical examination will help determine the best course of action.
Skin Redundancy
Skin redundancy also influences a gynecomastia procedure cost. Imagine your fat as an anchor that tethers your skin down to the underlying muscle. Now, imagine removing that fat or anchor via VASER-assisted liposuction or direct excision. That fat that was once an anchor will no longer hold the skin down. The patient that already presents with skin laxity as a baseline will develop even worse skin laxity following surgery.
If your skin laxity is minimal to moderate, then your plastic surgeon can employ Renuvion skin tightening to counter skin laxity. Renuvion is an excellent supplement to VASER liposuction as it allows you to counter the creation of skin laxity without requiring surgical incisions. If you have moderate to severe skin laxity, your procedure may require surgical excision to eliminate any skin redundancy. This excision is routinely performed as a wedge excision located along the inframammary crease. This results in longer operative times and a cost starting at $10,000.
Chest Masculinization
The final variable is whether or not you desire an armor-plated chest or chest masculinization. You’re probably thinking to yourself, what does that even mean? The answer is simple. Chest masculinization is the ideal male chest appearance. You can achieve this by flattening out the center of the chest (either with direct glandular excision or Vaser-assisted liposuction, or both) and augmenting the medial and inferior portions of your chest with your fat. At this point, you’re likely thinking. We want to take the fat out. But, you’re putting it back in? The answer is yes, and yes.
We selectively remove fat from certain areas of your chest and build or add fat to other areas to create the signature pentagonal armor plate chest appearance. The proper aesthetic of the male chest is a pentagon or an armored plate found on a knight’s armor. The edges of the chest or what outlines the chest are made to appear bold, creating a chest shaped like a plateau. This proprietary breast surgery cost starts at $12,000. Plastic surgeons often perform this synchronously in males desiring abdominal etching or creating the elusive six-pack.
As you just read, numerous factors interplay with the overall cost of gynecomastia surgery. The best way to get the most accurate numbers is to come for an in-person consultation. You can also join us for a virtual consultation! We’ll devise a great plan together, and an accurate gynecomastia cost!
