Following on from my past updates on my male abdominoplasty and chest reduction, I wanted to follow up with a 5-month tummy tuck and gynaecomastia surgery recovery update.

The above video was recorded in August 2022, pretty much spot-on to 5 months after I had my surgery on 23 March.

To Recap

In case this is the first time we’re crossing paths, I always drop a little recap.

I lost 140 pounds from my heaviest to my lightest and had a lot of loose skin left over. In March 2022, I had a combined abdominoplasty and chest reduction surgery to remove that excess tissue.

I have been recapping my recovery and updates and this post and video cover how things are at the 5-month mark.

Getting Back To Exercise

I started walking more or less fully normally again and hitting my Fitbit 12k a day step target around 4 weeks after surgery and maintained it since then.

I got back into the gym around 8 weeks after surgery. Having not lifted weights in a gym since the first Covid lockdown in the UK, I had a lot of ground to make up. I started very gradually, very carefully, and very slowly.

Around 3 months in, so more or less around the time I shot this video, I was back to the weights I was lifting pre-Covid. So that was pretty good progress I think, and I was very happy with it.

Scar Healing

At the 5-month point, there was no pain or discomfort from any of my scars.

I did still feel some pulling or resistance from my chest scars when I tried to reach my arms overhead. But not to the extent that it restricted my movement in any way.

The swelling on the chest had come down noticeably by this stage.

I had a lot of bunching up of tissue and extra folds in my chest skin when it was more swollen.

But it had been going down smoothly and steadily.

The chest scars fit nicely under my chest muscles so they were quite well disguised, and only become more noticeable when I reach overhead.

The scars on the sides of the chest were getting nice and smooth. The front of the chest was a bit lumpier though, and I wasn’t giving it the level of massage attention it probably deserved.

Along my waistline, the scars were healing nicely. They were smooth and mostly flat.

Same with the centre of the abdomen mostly.

Below the belly button was completely flat (and still is).

As you get higher up and closer to the rib cage, there are a couple of thicker and lumpier parts (as shown in the above image).

That area is much more prone to movement as you turn and twist throughout the day, so I was expecting there may be a bit more lumpiness there anyway.

Swelling

The swelling around the middle of the abdomen was mostly gone. But it was more obvious on the lower part of the abdomen, much closer to the scars.

And when I reach overhead, I don’t feel the abdominal scars pulling – I feel the tightness from that swelling.

And that does still go up and down a little bit.

For the first 4-5 weeks, on the right side of my abdomen, the swelling was particularly bad and it felt like I had an extra bulge sitting there.

That has thankfully evened out quite a lot by now and the swelling felt more symmetrical.

There is still some way to go though.

The chest swelling has come down massively. The nipples are still a little bit swollen, and around the scars, it is also a little bit puffy. But it has been heading in the right direction.

Overall

This has been a much shorter tummy tuck and gynaecomastia surgery recovery update than some of my previous ones. But the toughest parts of the recovery were out of the way by this stage. And I was back to my normal day-to-day life without disruption.

I was staying active, looking after myself, and keeping my scars treated.

By the way, for scar treatment, I use Derma E scar gel (affiliate link).

So aside from what I mentioned above, there wasn’t really much else to talk about.

I did start trying to put on some muscle and gain weight for the first time in my life. It is a completely new experience for me and I’m not sure I have been enjoying it. But that is something for another day and another post.