Had surgery in Jan 2006 - my gyno was only on the left side and I'd had it since I was about 12 or 13 so it wasn't gear-induced. It was just something that never went after puberty. However, bodybuilding made it worse and gear made it worse still. Tried nolvadex on and off to get rid of it and it stopped it getting any bigger but didn't reduce the size of the lump in any way. Never tried any AI before the surgery at all.
Got surgery through the NHS after about a two-year waiting period. Surgeon was a bit of a dick and kept telling me to lose weight/fat to make it easier for him and when he felt I had lost enough (only about 15lbs I think) he agreed to do the procedure.
Surgery itself took about 3 hours from what I remember (general anaesthetic) and the surgeon removed about 9oz of hardened tissue from the left side. They also did liposuction on the right side to even things up a bit. I was disappointed I never got to see what he removed because he told me they incinerate it after surgery. Had to stay in hospital overnight and then once discharged the next day I had wear this tight thick cotton vest thing for a three months afterwards to compress the area but I got sick of wearing it every day and took it off after a month. Stitches around the nipple were self-dissolving so they never had to be manually removed.
Nine years on from surgery I still get the occasional itching in the nipple area and there is a tiny lump that has reappeared but you can't really notice it, it's probably more psychological than anything else - kind of when someone gets their leg amputated and yet they can still feel it there if you know what I mean. I've used test since but been careful to use an AI this time and had no problems. Nolvadex stops the itching too but the effect is only temporary, like 24 hours. Arimidex sorts it completely. Yet to try aromasin but heard its better than arimidex.