Adolescent Gynecomastia

Adolescent gynecomastia is a traumatic experience for a young man just entering puberty. Protruding breasts brings about the worst in peers, resulting in incalculable harm to one's self esteem and self image. The natural reaction is to attempt to hide the condition by never removing the shirt or participating in activities such as swimming or sports that require a bare chest. Nearly 60% of adolescent males suffer from some level of the condition, but most are too embarrassed and humiliated by the condition to even discuss it with parents or medical personnel.

In most instances, the adolescent gynecomastia disappears without any specific treatment by the time the 20th birthday is reached. The condition often manifests itself as a small approximately 4 centimeter lump under or near the aureola. While it is growing, the lump can be quite tender. In 75 percent of children with the condition, it disappears without treatment within two years. 90 percent of children show no further signs of gynecomastia within three years, even with no specific treatment. Even though the condition is entirely normal and treatable, the adolescent should still have a consultation with the pediatrician or family doctor, if for no other reason than to be reassured that the condition can be treated and is fairly common and normal for the age group.

In the smaller percentage of cases where the adolescent gynecomastia does not disappear within a two to three year time span, other treatment modalities will be required. In addition to hormonal imbalance, gynecomastia can be caused by such factors as obesity, consumption of steroids. various illnesses or some types of medications. It is common for no cause to be found for a particular patient, so treatment will often be a course of losing weight, discontinuing any use of steroids, adjusting other prescription medications to choose ones with fewer negative side effects or treating particular diagnosed medical conditions. Alternatively, just waiting out the period in the expectation that the condition will be outgrown as the hormone levels are synchronized is a common treatment.

Since adolescent gynecomastia surgery is contraindicated in most cases and rarely is covered by insurance policies, many people don't opt for surgery until every other option has been tried. The down side of that procedure is that after two to three years, the breast tissue tends to set and solidify and is much more difficult to remove with resorting to a surgical procedure.

The positive thing about adolescent gynecomastia is that once it is corrected, it rarely returns. If the cosmetic surgery, known as breast reduction is done, it doesn't have to be redone at some time in the future, although in severe cases gynecomastia may require a follow-up surgical procedure in order to correct minor problems such as dimpling from the liposuction. Even with surgical intervention, the incisions are well hidden so any scars from the procedure are almost invisible. The incisions can be made along the line of the aureola for example, or in one of the body creases.