14 Years old - My Story

[Notmyselfanymore]

I'm the middle child in the family out of three. I've always been the intelligent, quiet one between my two brothers. I started to gain weight when I was about 11/12 after my parents divorced. I started to get man boobs and I thought it was just with the fat. I'm now 14 and weigh around 200lbs. and I play Baseball and Football.

About a year ago when I was at a pool and I went in with my shirt on, my dad started to talk to me about how he got surgery on his chest a few years before, and that my man boobs would go away. I was suprised, and he told me about a gland that had to be taken out. I've been living with Gyne for a few years now, and I constantly wear a sweatshirt, even in California weather. I spend the summer in Massachusetts, where I have many friends that I truly can trust. I have started to swim without a shirt on and I get the occasional laugh, but I know it's because in reality, "they" are funny. My Dad suggested that I could get surgery during the summer before Highschool and we never spoke about it again. Well, it's that summer before HS and it's almost over (I'm not with my Dad in the summer). Now I have to deal with all the stuff in Highschool, and will get picked on by a lot of people.

I can't come up with the confidence to tell my Dad about how bad I feel and that I need the surgery. We aren't as close as we used to be, and it doesn't help that we live with his girlfriend who has a son my age, who makes fun of me about it even though we are good friends. I don't know how long I can live with my boobs, I just want to be myself again.

[shiftr]

If your father had surgery than there is no doubt that he has suffered the same emotional stigmas that you and everyone else on this forum has felt. You shouldn't feel any shame into talking to your father about it.

You're still young and you still have many years ahead of you. There are so many people here who have lived like 30 years with gyne until they finally had surgery. Anyways, stay positive. The hardest part imho is confronting someone about the issue.

[superduty]

AGREED, bring it up again  with your dad, I am confident he will be supportive.  As stated above, if he had surgery he obviously suffered just like you.

[Exit]

Let me share my perspective.

I'm 20 years old, and I'm considering getting surgery for my gyne fairly soon.  That is if I can afford it and if the insurance covers it.

To tell you the truth, I regret not telling my parents about it when I was your age.  14 was probably one of the worst years of my life because of my boobs.  Now I'm in college, and the fun teenage years of my life have drawn to a close.  I wish I could have had something done about my gynecomastia earlier on so that I could have spent the rest of my teenage years at the pool or the beach with my shirt off and having fun with the gals. 

I think you may regret it if you don't talk to your dad about it soon.  He had surgery on his chest, so there's no reason he shouldn't understand.  You're also lucky you have access to this forum.  When I was 14, I never came across this site, so I had very limited knowledge of what gynecomastia actually was.  I always thought it was just excess chest fat(which to some degree it was), but I didn't really realize that it was a disorder to the degree that it was.  Now that I know the actual situation of gyne, I wish I could have done something about it earlier.