New to forum, have questions

[billy245]

Hello everyone, as I mentioned before Im new to this forum, however, I have read quite a bit about gyne.  When i was 15 I first noticed the "hard lumps" and "puffy nipples" in both nipples, as described throughtout the forum(sorry for not being able to describe it with specifics).   When i was 15 I went to the doctor(Kaiser Permanente) and was told that this would resolve itself in a few years.  Well, its been a few years, I am now 18, and needless to say im getting a little tired of these things.

My first question is,  Whats steps must i go through to resolve this issue?  What can I tell my doctor to convince him to provide some kind of treatment?

I have read about a few different methods of approaching gynecomastia, treatment wise.

What are your opinions on drug therapy(i.e. Tamoxifen, or even 6oxo, an anti-estrogen)?

How prevalent are the scars within 6 weeks of surgery?

Does anyone have any experience with dealing with Kaiser Permanente with this problem?

[vaio]

The steps to getting them removed is:
#1. do alot of reasearch about gynecomastia. Try to find out why you have them. (medication side effects steroid use etc.) If you cannot find a reason behind it, get a hormone test done at the Doctors office
#2 Look throughout the phone book, internet, and find plastic surgeons who have experience in gynecomastia work.
#3 Choose one, and schhedual consultation

Thats it. The plastic surgeon will guide you through the rest. The hardest part of it all will be making a consultation. I found it extreamly embarrising.

Scars 6 weeks post op will be minimal, depending upon you plastic surgeons expertise. Its very important during you consultation to see before and after photos of the surgeons previous work. Even if there are not too many before and after photos of gynecomastia work, look at the scars from before and after photos.
I am 4 weeks post op, went to the beach this weekend, too off my shirt for about 30 min (with sun screen on incisions of course) My friends said" damn your chest got shrunk!" I told them I have been doing cardio and dieting. No one even noticed the scars.

All thoes drugs/hormones/products what ever you want to call them, to treat gynecomastia will NOT work.
The only way to have gynecomastia removed is to have a simple surgery.
Most people toy around with "this will work, that will work, or I am gonna experiment with this" None of it works. I toyed around with thoes type of ideas and they got me back to square 1. Skip that mess, and get it taken care of.

Good luck

Oh yeah, you can see pictures of my scars in my signature. They were taken I believe on day 3 or 4 post op. I cannot remember. You can still see blood around the incision line and the stitches also. I will post pics of the scars njow. They are nearly invisiable.  

[Paa_Paw]

Hello billy245,

As vaio said, the place to start is with the Doctor. An Endocrinologist is best if you can get one that has specialized in reproductive hormones etc. Hypo can tell you what tests to ask for.

It is not uncommon for young men with Gynecomastia to avoid swimming etc where they would be exposed. Embarassement is a common complaint, likewise limited socialization.  These are all issues you can and should talk about with your Doctor.

Good luck.

[downsbs]

Vaio,

Who did your surgery?  I am hoping to be able to afford the procedure within the next year, I am becoming more and more self concious about this.  Thanks for your help.

T

[Grandpa Bambu]

The steps to getting them removed is:
#1. do alot of reasearch about gynecomastia. Try to find out why you have them. (medication side effects steroid use etc.) If you cannot find a reason behind it, get a hormone test done at the Doctors office
#2 Look throughout the phone book, internet, and find plastic surgeons who have experience in gynecomastia work.
#3 Choose one, and schhedual consultation

Thats it. The plastic surgeon will guide you through the rest. The hardest part of it all will be making a consultation. I found it extreamly embarrising.

Scars 6 weeks post op will be minimal, depending upon you plastic surgeons expertise. Its very important during you consultation to see before and after photos of the surgeons previous work. Even if there are not too many before and after photos of gynecomastia work, look at the scars from before and after photos.
I am 4 weeks post op, went to the beach this weekend, too off my shirt for about 30 min (with sun screen on incisions of course) My friends said" damn your chest got shrunk!" I told them I have been doing cardio and dieting. No one even noticed the scars.

All thoes drugs/hormones/products what ever you want to call them, to treat gynecomastia will NOT work.
The only way to have gynecomastia removed is to have a simple surgery.
Most people toy around with "this will work, that will work, or I am gonna experiment with this" None of it works. I toyed around with thoes type of ideas and they got me back to square 1. Skip that mess, and get it taken care of.

Good luck

Oh yeah, you can see pictures of my scars in my signature. They were taken I believe on day 3 or 4 post op. I cannot remember. You can still see blood around the incision line and the stitches also. I will post pics of the scars njow. They are nearly invisiable.  

Ditto on what Vaio said....

[theweeninjaguy]

i have to disagree agree with the statement that surgery is the only option for reducing gyno.

gyno is caused by excess oestrogen - block the oestrogen and you can stop the gyno worstening and in many cases the simple act of blockign the effects of the oestrogen will allow yoru body to get back to a datum and your own body will remove the gyno! you're MALE not FEMALE adn your body knows that - get rid of the female hormone and your MALE hormone will have you revert back to type!

i've seen this happen many times - sure it can take months if youv'e had the gyno for a long time but it can be done. you just need the right drug and the right knowledge! iv'e done it myself (and also had surgery before i realised i could do this) and i've seen others do it very sucessfully.

the one thing i've noticed about gyno forums is it's all doom and gloom - it doesn't ahve to be - honestly.

surgery should be the LAST option not the first.

ninja

[Spleen]

To play devil's advocate, I had my hormone's tested and everything was okee-dokee.  I've had the same chest for 20+ years now with almost no change.  Hormonal treatments *might* work for a guy in or near puberty, my impression is that if you're older (absent a hormonal/genetic problem, of course) you're stuck with what you got and surgery is it as far as options go.

[theweeninjaguy]

no

your gyno is there because your background oestrogen level is sufficient to sustain it. it's not growing as your oestrogen level is not high enough to make it grow as it was during puberty.

if you block your oestrogen you end up in a situation where with no free oestrogen able to bond to the receptors your body can slowly (over months perhaps) reduce the gyno. if youv'e had it for a very long time decades for example my experience is that it will probalby not totally go away. don't know anyone who's taken the normal drug protocol for more than 3 months you see. but with no oestogen present your body will try to revert back to type.

once you stop the drug protocol - if you taper the dose down slowly yoru oestrogen level will slowly build but as it's still in balance with your testosterone level it will not cause a recurrence of the gyno. if you stop the drug suddenly then you will get a sudden burst of oestrogen and this will cause a recurrence so the drug must be tapered out.

it's possible that they gyno may never come back but equally it's possible unfortunatelly taht it will. an imbalance in your HPTA can be caused by many things and the gyno woudl start again.

however, a 3 week course is normally sufficient to stop this little blip and keep your gyno free.

this is only my experience and the experience of 14000 steroid users on MT and i'm sure that  many on here will disagree. however many find that taking steroids solves their gyno problem the steroids themselves do not help and indeed make it worse, but the ancillary drugs the oestrogen blockers and anti oestrogens help and can quickly reduce gyno

i should point out this is generally effective on only 80% of cases.

ninja

[hypo]

It is not possible to reduce estradiol to 0.

You would not want to anyway because lowering estradiol outside of the normal range will cause fatigue/lethargy, lowered libido and maybe even cause thyroid peoblems etc.

Ninja your talking crap about how estrogen works on the breast tissue.

If you want I'll explain how estrogens works on these  tissues at a latter date.

[theweeninjaguy]

hypo do you have breasts dude?

cos i don't

and if they come back i'll not have them for long cos tbh i actually know what i'm talking about here - you just seem to be a sad bitter little idiot. no offence

ninja

[speedway121]

did everyone use kaiser??