Gynecomastia overview
Gynecomastia is the development of abnormally large mammary glands in males. This leads to breast enlargement and occasionally even the possible secretion of milk. The word comes from Greek; “Gyne” - which means “woman”, and “Mastos” - which means “breast tissue”. It is also known as “man boobs” or “bitch tits”.
Hormones mark the difference between men’s and women’s breasts. If men were castrated and took female hormones their whole life, they would develop female breasts. It’s as simple as that. So gynecomastia in men is really caused by having too many female hormones (primarily estrogen) and not enough male hormones (primarily testosterone).
Often when boys go through puberty, due to changing hormones, they can develop gynecomastia. This type of gynecomastia often goes away on its own when the hormones stabilize after puberty. Many people misdiagnose themselves with gynecomastia because they have excess adipose tissue (fat) in their breasts. Obese males often have this excess adipose tissue in their chest. This condition is called pseudogynecomastia. Losing weight can get rid of most of this problem, although the chest might look a little sloppy because of the excess skin.
A trained physician can often diagnose gynecomastia just by the look and feel. Sometimes they need to use ultrasound and x-rays imaging to confirm their findings.
There are many factors that can cause the imbalance in male/female hormones that causes gynecomastia.