What exactly is gland?

[toronto]

What's it made of? some people refer to it as breast tissue, but even in a woman breast tissue is not that hard...

just curious

[vaio]

Milk duct

[vaio]

Thats why its so embarrising in my opinion. Its awemost like you are half a transfestite.

[Paa_Paw]

At birth, we start out with the same kind of breasts whether we are male or female.  The rudimentary beginnings of milk producing glands are there from the start.

We also all have both Estrogens and Androgens,  male and female hormones.  It is the balance of these hormones that control the development of our secondary sex characteristics.  Where the breasts are concerned, Estrogens encourage growth of the breast "Buds" while Androgens supress their growth.

At the onset of puberty, it often takes a little while for our hormones to properly balance;  and the milk producing glands start to grow.  With this growth, the nipples become more prominent. Spaces between the lobes of glandular tissue fill in with fat.

Generally speaking, the glandular tissue is fibrous and therefore firmer than the fatty tissue which surrounds it.  Sometimes though, it is nearly impossible to tell the difference by touch and even the surgeon only really knows after the surgery is done.

Some fortunate young men have breast growth in early puberty which later resolves (or shrinks).  Though the odds of that happening is highly debatable. Some say that the odds of self resolution are about 90% but I think that number is unrealistically high.

There are many other possible causes of gynecomastia, but basically anything that has an effect on your hormone balance could cause it.  There are some life threatening conditions (Tumors etc) that could be the cause; though these are rare, They should be checked out by a Doctor.

[Blarneystoner]

milk ducts? that is embarassing  

[toronto]

wow..that is embarassing..

i guess that's why everyone just says gland instead of milk gland or milk duct...

women have milk ducts, they don't have these hard lumps in their chests, or at least they didn't last time i checked, is that because they haven't finished developing properly in males with gynecomastia because eventually the testosterone took over?

also if gland grew in the first place, why do i keep reading on this board that if all the gland is cut out it will never grow back, but usually PS's leave a little bit to keep blood supply to the areola but the chances of regrowth are higher...

[toronto]

this is obviously a womans breast but are the lobules the gland?

Anatomy


Each breast is composed of fifteen to twenty lobes. Each lobe has a single lactiferous (milk) duct, which opens in a depression at the tip of the nipple (Figure 1)

The ducts are parallel to one another in the nipple but then diverge toward the periphery of the gland. Distally the ducts divide and end in a spherical alveolus (Figure 2). A number of alveoli open into a common duct and constitute a lobule. All the lobules draining through the same duct make up a lobe

Each alveolus (gland) and duct are composed of a single layer of epithelial cells that lay against a basement membrane

The stroma is the connective tissue that holds the ducts and lobes together

Lymph channels within the breast spread outward from the nipple along the major lactiferous ducts and along draining veins to beds of lymph nodes. The major beds (regional nodes) are the external mammary group, axillary vein group, and central axillary group (Figure 3). Scapular and subclavicular nodes drain into the axillary nodes. Lymphatics also drain directly into the internal mammary chain