GYNECOMASTIA: CAUSES AND RECURRENCE

Are those enlarged breasts stopping you to go outside and live to the fullest? In fact, being a male, having enlarged breasts i.e., gynecomastiais certainly a sheer embarrassment. Want to know why does it happen? What if it reoccurs even after undergoing a treatment? Scroll down to know more about it:

What is GYNECOMASTIA?

In common terms, Gynecomastia is defined as a health disorder in men in which their breast tissues enlarge or swell due to an imbalance of two hormones namely testosterone and estrogen.

Wondering why does that unwanted enlargement take place? The testosterone decreases and estrogen increases which results in enlargement of one or both breasts in men; sometimes evenly and sometimes unevenly.

Usually, it’s not a serious problem but for some people, it gets difficult to cope with the situation.

As the swollen muscles often pain and thus may put men in a socially awkward condition. The problem often goes away on its own but may require surgery or medications sometimes.

Who Suffers From This Problem?

Breast enlargement is not seen as something that can occur in men. But it is a disorder that affects men from all age groups:

• New-born Babies: Almost 75% of baby boys are born with enlarged breast due to the estrogen of the mother. These swollen tissues usually go by their own after 2-3 weeks of birth.
• Young Boys: Hormonal imbalances are common in boys when they go through puberty. These imbalances result in certain changes in the body such as coarseness of voice or swelling of breast tissue. This swelling usually goes on its own in a minimum of six months to two years at the maximum.
• Older Men: Gynecomastia peaks again in men at a later age. The older men aged 50 to 69 years suffer from swelling of breast tissues. According to a survey, every 1 out of 4 older men is affected by this problem.

What Causes Gynecomastia?

It is caused by a decline in the male hormone which is testosterone as compared to estrogen which is referred to as female hormone. This is the only cause of this disorder. However, there are multiple reasons for this hormonal imbalance so let’s have a look:

• Natural Hormonal Imbalance: There are two dominant hormones in the male and female body individually which control the sex characteristics in them. The hormone testosterone is responsible for the development of male sex organs and characters while estrogen ensures the development of female sex organs and characters.

It is important that these hormones are in proper proportion in the body.

Moreover, all men have some amount of estrogen in their bodies as well.

But they produce higher levels of testosterone naturally which suppresses the estrogen.

Notably, Gynecomastia occurs when estrogen in men increases the desired amount. This can occur at puberty when their bodies are going through changes or even in old age. Mostly new-born babies also have this because of their mother’s estrogen.

• Medications: This problem can occur as a result of certain medicines. The most commonly used medicines that may lead to Gynecomastia are:
• Medicines used to treat ulcer such as cimetidine.
• Certain antibiotics.
• Chemotherapy
• Heart disease medications e.g., digoxin.
• Antiandrogens which are used to treat prostate disorders.
• Anti-anxiety pills such as diazepam
• Antidepressants mainly tricyclic
• AIDS Medicines
• Gastric Medicines e.g., Reglan

• Drugs and Alcohol:

Gynecomastia can be triggered by the frequent intake of certain drugs and excessive drinking habits such as:

• Marijuana
• Heroine
• Methadone
• Alcohol
• Amphetamines
• Cannabis

• Health Problems:

This problem is often triggered as a side effect of certain problems as those problems may cause an imbalance of sex hormones in the body. Some examples of these health problems are:

• Tumors: Occurring on adrenal glands, testes, and pituitary gland, tumors can result in
• Hypogonadism: All the problems that disrupt the normal testosterone production in the body lead to Gynecomastia such as Klein-filter syndrome, pituitary gland insufficiency.
• Malnutrition: when the body is in a state of starvation for too long, the testosterone levels decrease while the
• Hyperthyroidism
• Aging
• Kidney Failure
• Liver Failure/Cirrhosis
• Estrogen levels remain constant that causes a hormonal imbalance.

As mentioned earlier, in most cases, this condition goes away on its own. Same happens in puberty. It takes up to 2 years to goon its own. However, in some cases, it may persist, thus requiring treatment.

Looking For the Treatment?

Here are available to treat this condition.

• Medicines: There have been no medications approved by the FDA for the treatment of Gynecomastia. However, if any particular medicine has been the cause of it, stopping that might help the situation. In some cases, certain drugs e.g.,tamoxifenis used which suppresses estrogen production.

• Surgery: if the condition persists, causes pain and becomes the reason for your embarrassment, then surgery is one of the options. So reduction mammography is the best option for it.

• Hormone Replacement Therapy: Testosterone replacement therapy has been proved to be effective in older men and those specific males who have a lower level of testosterone.

• SERM: This stands for selective estrogen receptor modulators which are tamoxifen and raloxifene. They are evidenced to reduce the amount of breast tissue. This option is best-suited in painful cases.

What AboutRecurrence?

There is a very common question asked before undergoing surgery for removal of breast tissue in men which is: can it come back?

Sadly, the answer is, yes. But the good news is that the chances of its recurrence are very less.

As per a study in 2017 from the Aesthetic Plastic Surgery General, only 12.5% who had surgery for removal of Gynecomastia tissues, got the problem back after a span of more than ten years. Thus, there is a very little chance of about 10% of it coming back.

Pondering Over Why Does it Reoccur?

The reasons forgynaecomastia’s recurrence maybe:

• Incomplete tissue removal during surgery due to inexperienced surgical skills.
• Surgery is done for pseudogynecomastia, a condition mistaken for gynecomastia.
• Continued use of drugs and alcohol after surgery/ treatment.
• Use of Steroids After Surgery

How to Avoid Recurrence?

The best solution to avoid recurrence is to know the factors that led up to it and combat them before rushing into a surgery. More importantly, always approach a well-experienced surgeon to get your surgery done correctly.

About Us:

Getting your surgery done by our expert international cosmetic surgeon Dr. Arif will worth it. His years of excellence in cosmetic surgery assure that there will be no chance of recurrence of Gynecomastia.

To your delight, he makes use of cutting-edge technology as well as up-to-the-minute surgery tools, in particular, the power X machine. This is how he gets in the bag maximum client satisfaction.

You can have Free Online Consultation with Dr Arif Hussain by filling up the form below: