Don’t all men want to look like and feel great when they take their shirts off? That can mean hours and hours in the gym. But some can spend those hours and never achieve the sculpted look they truly desire. Well, now there’s a creative new way to get there….surgically! Dr. Simeon Wall, of the Wall Center in Shreveport, Louisiana, says one of the most common reasons men seek out cosmetic, plastic surgery is for a condition called gynecomastia, or swelling of the breast tissue.
By Simeon Wall, MD
The Plastic Surgery Channel
From man boobs to Adonis
Gynecomastia can be caused by an imbalance of the hormones estrogen and testosterone. The degree of swelling can range from mild enlargement of the breast, to actually looking and feeling like a female breast. “It has a feminine look to it. They don’t look good in or out of a shirt,” says Dr. Wall. Generally, “it is not a serious problem but can make a man very self-conscious and embarrassed.”
Wait….don’t throw the fat away!
In the past, patients would present with this problem and Dr. Wall would simply surgically remove the breast and fatty tissue or liposuction it and throw the fat away. “But what is left behind? How do they look? They don’t typically look athletic or muscular,” discusses Dr. Wall, “so we’ll take that fat and put it back in where we want it!” By adding fat, not tissue, back into the muscle and surrounding structures, the Adonis procedure gives the patient a high, full, muscular looking, developed chest. Ridding the patient of the low, hanging skin and breast tissue look and filling up the upper part where you have muscle gives rise to the name of the procedure.
Men will also often ask Dr. Wall about removing a “spare tire” around their waist. The normal process would be to just suction away the flank fat and throw it away, but today, we know using the fat in different parts of the body to shape and sculpt is a really nice option to offer patients. Fat can be used to not only shape the pecs and upper chest but can also be used in the triceps, deltoid and shoulder areas too. “I only throw fat away now if I absolutely have to”, says Dr. Wall, “Fat offers us opportunities. It is all about shaping!”
The surgeries involving fat removal are extremely efficient and automated making it a streamlined process to re-purpose what used to be so unwanted and undesirable.
Sculpting with fat
“It’s really exciting in plastic surgery right now because we are truly able to shape and sculpt the body,” says Wall, “It’s just like with clay. If there’s a model and we want bigger shoulders on it, you would add clay. Now we can do it in real life, with fat!”
The real revelation here is learning that throwing fat away is a bad thing. Fat can be good if used in the proper location for the proper reason!