22 August, 2020 by Dr. Sachin Rajpal

Gynecomastia – Facts check

Gynecomastia is the enlargement of male breast. It can affect any male in any age group. This enlargement of chest puts the person in a very embarrassing situation leading to lowering of his self-esteem and putting himself in isolation from gathering.

Myth: It is caused by eating excessive junk food and excess fat

It is common belief that eating excessive fatty food and being overweight is the reason of developing gynecomastia. Though excess of fat leads to heaviness all around the body including chest region which mimics gynecomastia but it is due to combined feature of excess fat collection and enlargement of breast glandular tissue. Gynecomastia can also occur in person with normal weight but where there is enlargement breast tissue due to hormonal imbalance.

Role of hormones

Gynecomastia occurs due to imbalance between male to female hormone ratio in body. It develops when there is excess of estrogen (female hormone) as compared to testosterone (male hormone). Thus, evaluation protocol in gynecomastia should also include hormone studies to detect any imbalance in body and it should be corrected.

Myth: Gynecomastia will resolve on its own by dieting and exercise

As already mentioned above that appearance of gynecomastia is due to combined action of fatty tissue and glandular tissue, it is not possible to treat it only by exercise and dieting. Though fat can be reduced a bit by exercise but not completely. Surgery is the mainstay for gynecomastia correction which address removal of both fatty tissue and enlarged breast glandular tissue.

Can it recur

Normally the area treated with liposuction removes all the fatty tissue from the affected area and chances of recurrence are almost nil. However, the residual fat cells in surrounding area may hypertrophy if one gains weight. On the other hand, glandular breast tissue once removed do not recur.

“Gynecomastia can be very distressing and embarrassing but it is not something to live with for your entire life”.

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