Sculpture and Surgery
Prior to entering the specialty of plastic surgery, Dr. Blau was already engaged in painting and sculpting. This sense of artistry and aesthetics still informs Dr. Blau’s plastic surgery. While surgery is a scientific endeavor, Dr. Blau brings with him not only a physician’s knowledge of anatomy and physiology, but also the artist’s sensibilities of beauty, proportion, and shape.
The breast gland that is a manifestation of gynecomastia is a three-dimensional structure. Breasts help to define an individual’s gender. The shape and size of the breasts help to indicate masculinity or femininity.
The defining structure of the male breast is definitely the pectoralis muscle. A flat and chiseled chest gives the appearance of masculinity. Excessive adipose or glandular tissue may obscure the pectoralis muscle structure, thus causing a distortion of the perfect aesthetic of the male chest.
Unlike the female breast, the male breast does not have a function per se and serves as a fully aesthetic masculine structure. Men have the desire to expose their masculine chest to attract positive attention or admiration. On the other hand, should the breast appear abnormal or more feminine it may cause embarrassment, and therefore there exists a natural tendency to hide their chest with excessive clothing or special undergarments.
Body builders expose their chest professionally. They have spent years of hard work cultivating their body and judges pay special attention to the pectoralis muscle. The existence of large male breasts in a bodybuilder alters their bodily harmony by obstructing the perfect shape of the pectorals muscle. In competition, this can lead to judges deducting points that are crucial for winning.
Even non-athletes have the desire for a flat nipple-areola complex. This requires minimal adipose and glandular tissue over the chest muscle.
Proportions are the keys to pleasing surgical outcomes. The surgeon has to sculpt the chest in the same way an artist is molds his sculpture. My continued experience in painting and sculpting has influenced my attempts to achieve a perfectly proportioned masculine chest through gynecomastia surgery. For me, male breast reduction surgery is comparable to my real-life sculpting. I take pride in my surgery just as I do in my paintings and sculptures.
