“Young Men With Gynecomastia, How to Ask for Help From Your Parents”
San Francisco, CA-It is hoped that young boys or men that have developed male breasts also known as gynecomastia, man boobs, and moobs will find this blog to help them understand what is happening.
Up to 65% of males will have detectable breast development by the age of 14, most likely caused by an imbalance of sex hormones. This is a normal condition brought on by puberty when the body starts to go through changes. You are not turning into a girl, you do not have cancer, you are normal!
Do you try to hide your chest with loose fitting shirts? Do you try to avoid taking your shirt off for gym? Do you avoid swimming? Are you embarrassed to let your parents know? You are not alone, there are many young men quietly suffering the same way you are.
Bullying has become prevalent in schools these days, and boys that have developed breasts are a great target for cruel nicknames that can cause self-hatred and isolation. It is important to understand that gynecomastia or the male breast is a benign (harmless) condition even though it is socially lethal!
The good news is that for most boys, 90% to 95% the condition will go away by itself without any type of treatment, within a few weeks to 2 years. But two years for a young man can feel like eternity, what can you do in the meantime? Getting emotional support from your family or other sources can be a great benefit.
First, check out a website called gynecomastia.org, there you will find many guys that are sharing stories of how they have suffered and what they have done about it. This is a website dedicated to getting out information on gynecomastia and support from other members through the discussion boards. You do need to sign up and become a member to have access to all the site has to offer, but there is no charge. Review the stories that have been posted such as this one “A Mother’s Story”. Notice at the end of this story that the Mother recommends that you tell your parents, as difficult as this may be; they probably have no idea that you are suffering and most parents will do whatever it takes to spare their sons this type of humiliation. Try to talk to your parents, they may be much more understanding than you realize.
If the idea of talking to your parents is just impossible for you, try composing an email telling them how miserable you have been with a link to the above letter, and a link to gynecomastia.org. There are many stories posted of parents who discover their child has been suffering, and they were completely unaware! For example, another story tells of a boy who finally went to his father and asked if the money that had been saved for him for college could be used instead for male breast reduction surgery. The father was beyond shocked to find out his son had been dealing with a situation he knew nothing about, and he had never even heard of the term gynecomastia before. The father was able to get a line of credit to cover the cost of gynecomastia treatment, and his son was still able to go to college. The surgery proved to be a life changing event for his son.
As mentioned earlier, most boys will find the male breasts will go away on their own within a few weeks to a couple of years. If they do not, there are different surgical treatments available depending on the severity of the case.
Unless you have “pseudo-gynecomastia”, be wary of a surgeon that claims liposuction alone will give you the result you want. True gynecomastia consists of breast tissue and fat, liposuction will only get rid of fat, breast tissue is much denser and needs to be removed by surgical excision. Whereas pseudo-gynecomastia is caused by fat alone and can get great results with liposuction or weight loss.
In searching for information on the internet be careful about ads that claim you can take a pill to get rid of moobs. Save your money they do not work as attested to by many men on gynecomastia.org.
It would be wise to see a top cosmetic Board Certified Plastic Surgeon who specializes in gynecomastia surgery with your parents, to find out what your options are, and how likely the male breasts will go away on their own. Dr. Delgado stays abreast of all new innovations in plastic surgery such as “CoolSculpting” for fat removal which is now available at the “Non-Surgical Center of Excellence” at his Marin County location.
MIGUEL DELGADO, M.D.
Dr. Delgado, MD is a world-recognized plastic surgeon and specialist in the treatment of male breast enlargement, also called gynecomastia. He has developed new techniques and owns and operates gynecomastia.org, which has become the largest gynecomastia forum in the world. Dr. Delgado holds the two most coveted credentials; the certification by the American Board of Plastic Surgery and membership in the American Society of Plastic Surgery.