What Is Gynecomastia?

When people hear of gynecomastia for the first time, the question, "what is gynecomastia?" often follows. For the most part, people only know gynecomastia by its more colloquial nicknames like man boobs or moobs. Of course, for people who are suffering from this embarrassing condition, these types of nicknames can be extremely hurtful. As such, it is much nicer for people who suffer from gynecomastia to use the clinical term. Gynecomastia is the presence of enlarged breast tissue in men.

Many people are astonished at the high numbers of men and boys who suffer from this condition at some point in their lives. According to a number of studies, the percentage of people who suffer from gynecomastia or have suffered from it at some point in their lives ranges in the neighborhood of thirty to sixty percent.

There are a number of different types of gynecomastia but there are the big three that are the most common. The three most common types of gynecomastia are pubertal gynecomastia, pseudo gynecomastia, and "puffy nipples." Pubertal gynecomastia develops when boys are experiencing puberty and it is a result of the fluctuations in hormones that are experienced during this period in life.

Many teenage boys develop gynecomastia during puberty and for the vast majority of boys, once their hormones go back to normal the gynecomastia fades away. In most cases this can take anywhere from a few months to a couple of years. With that said, some boys never lose their pubertal gynecomastia and require surgery to have it removed should they choose to do so.

Pseudo gynecomastia is a very common occurrence in the United States especially. Pseudo gynecomastia is, not surprisingly, not true gynecomastia. True gynecomastia is the presence of excess glandular breast tissue while pseudo gynecomastia is just the presence of excess fat on the chest.

Everyone carries their weight differently and for some men, there is a larger accumulation of fat in the chest area making his chest more prominent. The good news about pseudo gynecomastia is that it does not require surgery to correct. Diet and exercise are more than enough to address almost all cases of pseudo gynecomastia and the breasts will go away as weight is lost.

The last and most common form of gynecomastia is "puffy nipples." Puffy nipples are when there is a very small amount of breast tissue that accumulates directly under the nipple and areola which is the darker area directly around the nipple. This creates a slight dome-like appearance to the nipple that would otherwise lie flat against the pectoral muscle underneath. Puffy nipples are the least noticeable form of gynecomastia and the one that is least likely to cause public discomfort and warrant surgery.

In most cases, the puffy nipples are mostly unnoticeable unless a person is looking carefully and they are almost always completely undetectable under clothing. For most men with puffy nipples, surgery is not something that is necessary as the high cost and risks associated with surgery are not worth it.