Breast Enlargement in Males: What is Gynecomastia?

What is Gynecomastia?

What is Gynecomastia?

Gynecomastia (referred to as “man boobs”) is a disease that makes breast tissue swell in men. Gynecomastia can occur when the balance of two hormones (known as estrogen and testosterone) in your body thrown off. It can cause one or both breasts or even sometimes unevenly breast size. However, you don’t confuse the difference between gynecomastia and pseudo-gynecomastia due to both disease lookalike.

All men are born with a small amount of breast tissue and don’t develop as female. Boy’s bodies mostly produce a hormone called testosterone, which can guide their sexual growth during puberty. But men also produce some estrogen – the hormone can steer sexual growth in girls.

As we know the balance of the two hormones changes when an older man’s body makes less testosterone, or when a boy is going through puberty. Therefore, there has a higher percentage of estrogen causes male breast tissue to swell. We found that there half of the adolescent boys and up to two-thirds of men older than 50 may develop gynecomastia as a result of regular changes in hormone levels.

How does Gynecomastia happen?

Diagram: How does it happen?

There have a lot of things can trigger the hormone imbalance that leads to male breast growth, and some exact cause isn’t known.

In addition to physical changes such as puberty and ageing, some of the factors that can lead to the Gynecomastia (Breast Enlargement in Males) are:

• Diseases or injury affect the testicles to make testosterone
• Thyroid problems, since hormones from that gland control growth and sexual development
• Some cancers such as tumours of the lungs, pituitary gland or adrenal glands
• Overweight may result in more estrogen
• Medications for various illnesses such as heart disease, cancer, depression, or ulcers
• Illegal drugs such as anabolic steroids, marijuana, and heroin
• Kidney failure which means it can no longer clean and filter your blood
• Liver disease
• Natural hormone changes.

• Infants with gynecomastia
• Puberty Gynecomastia
• Gynecomastia in men

There have a lot of male infants are born with enlarged breasts because of the effects of their mother’s estrogen. However, this just temporary and will disappear within three weeks of birth.

Gynecomastia happened by hormone changes during puberty is relatively common. Usually, the swollen breast tissue will disappear without treatment within two years.

The prevalence of gynecomastia peaks again after the ages of 50 above, which around 1 in 4 men in this age group gets the impact.

Gynecomastia Symptoms

Diagram: Man Moobs Symptooms

The swelling of the breasts may cause breast size unequally. It may be a lump of fatty tissue under the nipple. This lump is sore or tender will make you worry that you have breast cancer but does happen in a small number of men. However, Gynecomastia is not necessarily a sign of cancer condition, but the doctor may recommend run some tests to rule it out. The Gynecomastia may disappear on its own or require medication and surgery if it persists.

How to Prevent Gynecomastia?