What should I do?

[Ryk322]

Hi, I am 16, and I have had Gyno. for about 2 and a half years, what is the best thing I could do.  I don't want surgery, and I have heard that working out will help.  I am not overweight, nor really fat at all, but I heard building muscle could help reduce the appearance of gyno.  Does anyone have any suggestions?

[DrBermant]

Hi, I am 16, and I have had Gyno. for about 2 and a half years, what is the best thing I could do.  I don't want surgery, and I have heard that working out will help.  I am not overweight, nor really fat at all, but I heard building muscle could help reduce the appearance of gyno.  Does anyone have any suggestions?

Gynecomastia frequently goes away on its own. Most male babies have some small breast buds at birth from their mother's hormones in the womb.  This typically resolves.  Many teenagers have gynecomastia from the imbalance of hormones during puberity.  Gynecomastia that persits for more than 2 years often typically does not resolve on its own. When or if should surgery be done on a young man is a very common question addressed here.

I have operated on many teenagers for this problem. Some have posted here in this forum. Here are links to parents comments about their sons'  surgery.

You can find a Photograph Gallery of Before and After Surgery in Teenage Patients here.

It depends on the degree of the problem, emotional concerns, current breast growth, and other factors best explored with an experienced surgeon during a consultation after an examination.

Many teenage patients have told me that using the internet helped them talk with their parents about their gynecomastia.  Here is a movie I posted about the emotion of living with gynecomastia many have told me helped.

I take care of many bodybuilders and almost all of them tell me that, in building muscle, what ever is on top of the muscle gets pushed further out.  However, bodybuilding is good for the body and weight loss issues.

Hope this helps,

Michael Bermant, MD
Learn More About Gynecomastia and Chest Sculpture

[Grandpa Bambu]

I have heard that working out will help. I heard building muscle could help reduce the appearance of gyno.

It's actually just the opposite dude. Building up your pecs will just push out the gyne and make it more obvious.

GB

[headheldhigh01]

taking a liberty with the dr's comment, though, based on my own hunches and experience, i think most of the cases that go away on their own are not severe enough to be that noticeable.  by the time somebody's worried enough to come here, in most cases, i think the odds are probably against him.