When Dean first came in to see Dr Dawn he’d been struggling with a bowel problem for over a decade. He’s been spending a total of 3 hours every day on the loo, answering the call of nature ten or twelve times every single day. Worryingly, he’d also been passing blood every time.
After a quick examination, Dawn sent Dean to get a gastroscopy – the inserting of a camera into his stomach in order to investigate the problem. With nothing untoward reported Dean had a similar procedure, this time with the camera inserted anally, followed by an ultrasound. It’s this final test that revealed the root of the problem. A fistula on his anal canal had been disrupting the operation of his sphincter muscle. Rather than going under the knife Dean was referred for a course of biofeedback treatment, designed to retrain his bowels through a series of exercises and dietary improvements, coupled with a course of anti-diarrhoea tablets.
The treatment is a success – 8 months on and Dean is seeing real results. Simply knowing the cause of the problem has given him the understanding he needed to rectify his troublesome rectum.
As many as 1 in 10 women suffers from an inverted nipple. It’s often not a medical worry, but for some women can cause low confidence and a lack of self-esteem. Sandra’s inverted nipple was taking over her life, so she came to see Dr Pixie.
Inverted nipples can in some cases secrete mucus and other nasties, leading to bad smells. Pixie referred Sandra to a specialist for further advice on this all-too-common problem. After a meeting with a consultant plastic surgeon it transpired that Sandra’s milk ducts were pulling the nipple inside the breast, causing scar tissue. There’s only one course of action for a problem like this: cut the ducts, releasing the nipple.
Under local anaesthetic, the surgeon pulled the nipple out of the breast and then severed the milk ducts, removing scar tissue at the same time. 15 minutes later the job was done. 7 weeks on Sandra is back to show Pixie the results and, although part of the nipple has been pulled back inside the breast as expected, it’s an enormous improvement. Sandra is now happy to get changed in front of her partner and is talking about wearing a bikini – something she never had the confidence to do before.
Polycystic ovary syndrome affects millions of women in the UK. A hormone imbalance causes small cysts on the ovaries. Symptoms include weight gain, acne, irregular periods, mood swings and excess hair on the face and body. It’s this last symptom that has been bothering Melanie, who first came to see Dr Dawn when she was out on the road in in the Embarrassing Bodies truck.
Although incurable, symptoms can be managed. The most common treatment is the right kind of birth control pill. Melanie chose to stop taking the pills because of the obvious consequence that she’d be unable to conceive while taking them.
After a series of blood tests, it emerged that Melanie’s hormone imbalance was only slight. The specialist prescribed a course of medication that would allow Melanie to reduce the hair growth while still being able to conceive. The downside is that the tablets can take months to yield results, so in the meantime Dawn sent Melanie for a course of laser treatment to remove her facial hair. 7 months on and Melanie now feels confident out in public or in bright, bustling environments, situations in which she would previously have felt very self-conscious.
Gynaecomastia, or “man boobs”, affect countless men across the country. Problems are often caused by hormone imbalances during puberty, but obesity or anabolic steroid use in adulthood can also be a cause. Alex had already undergone surgery on his chest, but came to seek Dr Christian’s advice after being unhappy with the results.
Christian diagnoses the only course of action available – an operation to remove the excess skin on Alex’s left side. Scarring was an inevitable consequence, but Alex decided it was worth it to reduce the size of his left “man boob”. It was a 40 minute job, removing excess fat before reducing the amount of skin and sealing up the incision. The operation was a success and 3 weeks on, Alex has the result he wanted.
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