Gynecomastia is defined as the hypertrophy of a man’s breast, which leads a man’s breast to resemble, regarding the shape, the woman’s breast. This situation is a relatively frequent disorder of men’s breasts.
It is caused when there is excess of estrogens compared to androgens in the organism and it can develop either as a normal or a pathological case.
Gynecomastia can normally appear in three different age periods:
When gynecomastia is defined as a pathological case, its causes can be the following:
Gynecomastia can develop either progressively or appear suddenly with a painful swelling of one or even both breasts, or even represent an accidental finding during clinical examination.
Contact your breast specialist in the event that you:
The breast specialist will ask you to undergo certain examinations which include palpation of the breasts and testicles, a mammography, a breast ultrasonography and, in certain cases, a biopsy with a fine needle (FNA) or a core biopsy, in order to confirm the disease and exclude the probability of the existence of cancer in the area.
Moreover, it is likely to carry out other certain tests, such as a chest X-ray or liver ultrasound.
When the diagnostic approach reveals a pharmaceutical regimen as the cause, change of medicines or even their interruption is recommended. If gynecomastia is due to pathological, e.g. endocrinological causes, the doctor will proceed to treatment of these underlying causes.
If gynecomastia does not recede or worsens or if it causes pain, surgical removal of the mammary gland is recommended, during which, however, the nipple and areola are not removed (subcutaneous mastectomy or even liposuction).