Recurrence after surgery

[coastsider]

Hello and thanks for taking my question.  Some background - in 1988 I had gynecomastia surgery that helped with my very obvious breasts and was a huge relief at the time.  The surgery wasn't perfect, though, and I still had puffy nipples that I was really self-conscious about.  Over the past 10 years, I've gained a bit of weight and my breasts seemed to have returned.  My nipples are very pronounced, and when I wear any sort of soft/stretchy fabric, they're pretty pronounced.  I've noticed that I still have hard tissue under my breasts and occasionally they are painful.
My question - is it possible that breast tissue can grow back after a period of time?  I've never used steroids and after a test of my FSH/LH/TSH levels, my doctor says the numbers are within the range.  Could weight gain (I'm now about 20-25 lbs overweight) cause breast tissue development?  Thanks for you help.

[DrPensler]

Weight gain can result in an increase in breast volume. Its like sitting on a stool with three legs.One of the legs is surgery but the other legs are diet and exercise. One bad leg and the stool does not work.If your results immediately after surgery were inadequate gaining weight would not improve the situation.

[Litlriki]

From your description, I would guess that your original surgery was not fully adequate, and that some gynecomastia remained.  Weight gain in the face of some persistent gynecomastia tissue results in...gynecomastia.  It's not necessary that it's grown back if it was never fully removed.

Rick Silverman

[coastsider]

Dr. Pensler/Dr. Silverman,

Thanks for your responses, they were helpful. I'm going to keep up the weight loss and then when I lose a bit more I'll look into a consultation for surgery.

Thanks