Ultrasound

[Liam9997]

So after 5 years and a failed surgery, my doctor finally agreed to send me for an ultrasound. According to the hospital they found 'fatty fibrosis' that was within normal range, which I'm confused about. It certainly does not look at all normal.

[Dr. Elliot Jacobs]

Ultrasound cannot differentiate between firm tissue which may be fibrous tissue or breast tissue or both.  Oftentimes patients have an ultrasound prior to gynecomastia surgery in order to try to prove that they have breast tissue present.  Unfortunately, the only way to prove breast tissue is to biopsy it during surgery.  However, if you go back to the origin of the term "Gynecomastia" -- it refers to female breast contour, not specifically breast tissue itself.  If one has already had gynecomastia surgery, there will undoubtedly be some remaining scar tissue across the entire chest as well.  I therefore consider any man with excess tissues on his chest to have some degree of gynecomastia.  I also believe that that virtually all gynecomastia has some amount of breast tissue associated with it -- but the exact ratio of fat to breast tissue varies greatly. 

Hope this helps.

Dr Jacobs