The common misconception:

Many people have the idea that liposuction is a weight loss procedure. Actually, liposuction goes best when you are at, or near, your normal weight. The point of liposuction is not to reduce your weight but to remove bulges that may show through  clothing.

Liposuction is often done in connection with gynecomastia surgery. In most guys, there is some fatty tissue over the main chest muscle, the Pectoralis  major. That can be liposuctioned with good results but the dense, fibrous tissue lying under the nipple must be surgically excised.

Liposuction is also used in another procedure that men like, the Torsoplasty. Once many guys have a flat chest, they eyeball the rest of their torso more critically and decide the flabby stomach and love handles should also go.

(Check out some Torsoplasty and gynecomastia before and after pictures for yourself.)

Liposuction is done on those locations, big time. But only where the fat is what we doctors know as superficial, that is, lying just under the skin.

If you have a rotund pot or beer belly, that fat is too deep down around your internal organs for liposuction and you must remove that on your own – with serious workouts and a reasonable, low calorie diet.

Women most often request liposuction of:

• Thigh bulges
• Love handles
• Flabby upper arms

Now for the news I mentioned: For the first time, the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ISAPS) has compiled the numbers and types of cosmetic plastic surgeries done worldwide in 2009.

The most popular procedure in the world? You got it, liposuction! It accounts for18.8 percent of all plastic surgery done globally but is second in America. (Breast augmentation is in first place here.)

The world’s most popular procedures two through five are:

• Breast augmentation – 17%
• Upper or lower eyelift – 13.5%
• Nose jobs – 9.4%
• Tummy tuck – 7.3%

Here’s another statistic you might find interesting.

The top 5 nations for performing large numbers of plastic surgery procedures are:

1. United States
2. China
3. Brazil
4. India
5. Mexico.

Here is my interview on WCBS-TV’s “The Early Show”. Go to: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/08/09/earlyshow/health/main6756741.shtml

After that, life for all gynecomastia patients is as predictable as it is miserable. Both boys and girls tease those kids without mercy because, really, boys are supposed to have flat, hard masculine chests.

Troy knows that wearing white will accentuate his large breasts so he takes great pains to dress in black or in large, baggy T-shirts with bold lettering. Of course, none of that will stop the daily badgering and belittling. And he dare not ever be seen with his shirt off.

The cruelest taunts of all include: “No girl wants a boyfriend with bigger boobs than she has!” and pointing fingers attached to others who shout  “Man boobs!”

Troy and his plastic surgeon, Elliot Jacobs, M.D., appeared on a recent television segment of The Doctors, along with Troy’s mom – who is now one very happy woman.

Why, you ask, is the mom so happy?

Because Troy had gynecomastia surgery about four weeks ago and is already enjoying the bliss of fitting in perfectly with his peers and not being singled out for a body feature that is seen by other teens as being something close to a freak of nature.

We can’t show you the actual television episode due to copyright restrictions but, thanks to the marvels of the Internet, we can provide a link at which you can watch Troy’s surgery as the actual breast tissue is surgically excised from his chest in a procedure also known as male breast reduction.

Watch the gynecomastia surgery at The Doctors’ website.

And for male breast reduction on a 15-year-old.

Be sure and watch for the cut-away model of a male breast with gynecomastia. It shows exactly how and where the problem occurs.

Before Male Breast Reduction Surgery

If you have a son in the teen years, you don’t want to miss Dr. Jacobs’ appearance on the nationally syndicated show, The Doctors on Monday, May 10^th.

Dr. Jacobs will be talking about adolescent gynecomastia and with one of his young patients who will comment on his own life and surgery shown in a film clip and some before and after gynecomastia surgery pictures.

If you’ve followed our blog posts, you know that large fleshy breasts on a teen boy can make his life a living hell.

The lad is:

• Belittled
• Ridiculed
• Shamed on a daily basis.

After Male Breast Reduction Surgery

This, at a time in life when a young man should be learning self-confidence, how to fit in with his peers and – above all – how to cope with the fairer gender. But instead, he spends all his time trying to hide his “man boobs.”

Sure, understanding girls and females can take the rest of any guy’s life. But a young man starts out completely behind the eight ball in the battle of the sexes if teen lasses reject him because no girl wants a boyfriend who has bigger boobs than she!

In New York, the show appears on WCBS-TV, channel 2 at 9 a.m.

In Los Angeles, The Doctors broadcasts on KCAL, channel 9 at 11:00 a.m.

To catch up on teens with gynecomastia, take a gander at our most recent posts on the topic:

• A cute teen girl in the school cafeteria pinches a boy with gynecomastia and asks what his bra cup size is.

• Teens ponder on telling others they have had male breast reduction surgery.

• Another teen with gynecomastia never left home because, if he socialized, he found “everybody staring at me.”