GREAT
PECS

BEFORE pectoral implants
by Dr Hodgkinson

AFTER pectoral implants
by Dr Hodgkinson

These male breasts are caused by breast tissue and can not usually be removed with liposuction alone. Dr Hodgkinson treats these male breasts with breast reduction surgery. The procedure may remove fat, glandular tissue and in extreme cases excess skin, resulting in a chest that is flatter and better contoured.

"A small incision is made between the junction of the nipple and the skin," explained Dr Hodgkinson. "The nipple is elevated being careful to leave a small amount of tissue on the back of the nipple. The glandular tissue is carefully removed ensuring there is no damage to the muscle."

An association between the muscle and the skin can cause a contraction. Leaving a fine layer of tissue over the muscle prevents this from occurring. Dr Hodgkinson also uses liposuction so the chest skin contracts in an even way without causing dimples.

"Not every cell should be removed however," stated Dr Hodgkinson. "The art of male breast reduction surgery is to leave some tissue or then it would look like a thumb print. That’s why most people prefer to come to a plastic or cosmetic surgeon."

A drain is nearly always placed in the area for three or four days to prevent fluid build up and a compression garment is worn for about two weeks. Patients can usually resume normal activity in about three to four weeks.

Pectoralis Muscle Deficiency
The pectoralis muscle is a major structure that when augmented gives a male a much more muscular look. The chest can be augmented with pec implants. These are firm silicone implants that can be trimmed or customised to fit each individual patient’s chest wall. There are two major groups of men who seek pec implant surgery: (continued column 2 below)

BEFORE gynecomastia treatments
by Dr Hodgkinson

AFTER gynecomastia treatments
by Dr Hodgkinson

Men who are born with chest wall deformities such as pigeon chest or Poland’s Syndrome (lack of one side of the pectoralis muscle). Most of these patients think correcting these problems is a huge operation of breaking the bones of the chest wall and moving them forward, however for these men, the deformity can be camouflaged well with pec implants.

"For these cases you make a customised implant that fits the defect," explained Dr Hodgkinson. "It may not be put under the muscle, it may be put under the skin and can give the chest a more aesthetic, masculine contour."

The other group of men seeking pec implants are men who genetically don’t have very good muscles, or men who would like to have a better chest but don’t have time to get to the gym. "The critical issue for these men is to place the implant underneath the pectoralis muscles not under the skin," explained Dr Hodgkinson. "An incision is made under the armpit and the skin and muscle carefully lifted up and the implant inserted."

The implant comes in four sizes and before surgery the chest wall is measured so the right sized implant is chosen. After pec implant surgery the patient can still build his own pec muscles for an even greater result. "Also, sometimes we do pec implants at the same time as gynecomastia because if a patient has been very embarrassed about his chest he might want to optimise the result."

The recovery period requires minimal activity for a week. A compression garment is worn day and night for four weeks and no rigorous activity can be undertaken for six weeks.

For men who have male breasts, or in the other extreme virtually no pec muscles there are various procedures that can help give a better, firmer more masculine contour to the chest.