Do they go away? Beginning to seem unlikely...

[montyp_228]

Hello.   This is my post on here although I've ben reading around for a while now.

I'm 16 years old and have had gynecomastia for 3 1/2  years now. I read in a "teen info book" that we had somewhere in the house that the condition will go away after 2-3 years. Unfortunately it isn't. I'm prepared to wait for a while longer...

But I was wondering if they do in fact dissapear at all. I am not at all overweight. I'm actually quite thin (you can see the outline of my ribs on my chest). So this has nothing to do with excess fat. I've been hoping they'll dissapear soon, but it's beginning to seem unlikely. They aren't a huge a problem. I'm never been very self conscious - my mum's more worried about how stylish the clothes I wear are than I am! She feels she has to go out and buy specific "cool" shirts for me (This is a great arrangement, as normally I have to pay for my clothes myself, and this way I get good quality clothes for free!). I can go swimming without feeling too out of place, wear white t-shirts, I had a girlfriend for a while last year...

But all the time these 'boobs' are in the background, and it definately lowers my self-esteem. :-/

If anyone knows if they do dissapear after a while (or if they don't) and could tell me then it'd be much appreciated. Thanks.

[DrBermant]

Hello.   This is my post on here although I've ben reading around for a while now.

I'm 16 years old and have had gynecomastia for 3 1/2  years now. I read in a "teen info book" that we had somewhere in the house that the condition will go away after 2-3 years. Unfortunately it isn't. I'm prepared to wait for a while longer...

But I was wondering if they do in fact dissapear at all. I am not at all overweight. I'm actually quite thin (you can see the outline of my ribs on my chest). So this has nothing to do with excess fat. I've been hoping they'll dissapear soon, but it's beginning to seem unlikely. They aren't a huge a problem. I'm never been very self conscious - my mum's more worried about how stylish the clothes I wear are than I am! She feels she has to go out and buy specific "cool" shirts for me (This is a great arrangement, as normally I have to pay for my clothes myself, and this way I get good quality clothes for free!). I can go swimming without feeling too out of place, wear white t-shirts, I had a girlfriend for a while last year...

But all the time these 'boobs' are in the background, and it definately lowers my self-esteem. :-/

If anyone knows if they do dissapear after a while (or if they don't) and could tell me then it'd be much appreciated. Thanks.

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 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 one father's posts about his 14 year old who had surgery.

http://www.gynecomastia.org/cgi-bin/gyne_yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=1;action=display;num=1029094195;start=1#1

http://www.gynecomastia.org/cgi-bin/gyne_yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=1;action=display;num=1029080561;start=5#5


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.

Hope this helps,

Michael Bermant, MD
Learn More About Gynecomastia and Chest Sculpture

[montyp_228]

Great, thanks!

Was a big help!