CBS-TV NEWS STORY ON GYNECOMASTIA

[BigApple]

I saw this medical story on gyne on WCBS-TV/New York, the flagship station of the CBS Network. It was broadcast on the evening of 7 March 2005.

You can view/read it on the station's website by following this link:

http://cbsnewyork.com/healthwatch/local_story_067075626.html

[Daveo]

It's good that the word is getting out.

[Grandpa Bambu]

Thanks for the Heads-Up!

Can't view the vid though. Anyone know where to get the plug-in for Mozilla 'Firefox' browser?

John.

[jc71]

good piece.

[atm311]

Finally! The word is starting to get out!

[BigApple]

To Bambu:

I'm not much of a computer person, but on my computer I did not require any type of plug-in. The video did not seem to even require Windows MediaPlayer, RealPlayer or QuickTime. Looks like the player is built into the CBS website. Maybe someone else can shed light on this.

[RRB]

Worked for me no problem.

Excellent video, its good that people with the condition see it and know they are not alone and can possibly get help to fix it now.  What would be even better is if this would help to stop people without it ridicule and taunt people who do have it, doubt that would ever happen though  :-/

[Gine2D]

Good PR for the PS & for all the men with gyne.

This may be a way to get a free surgery.  Just show yourself with a PS on TV.

Hit pause when the video gets to the after surgery picture, be quick because it is only about 1 second.  The breasts seem larger than many of the guy's before surgery photos at this website.

Think he will be back for a second surgery for gland reduction?

G

[Paa_Paw]

According to what they said:

It is common in a high percentage of men.

No physical problems are referred to.

It is not commonly spoken about.

It causes embarrasment, low self esteem, poor social adaptation etc.

If all this is true, save the money you would have given the surgeon and simply get a life.   We are so normal that we may be in the majority.  We need to open up and talk about it.

Breasts are not the problem, attitudes are.

I actually believe they are right.

[Gine2D]

Paa Paw, now you put your foot in it.  Surely you jest.

A year ago when I brought that kind of statements up, some of this group flamed me & wanted me banned from posting.  This was a cut'em-off-only group.

Hormone tests & the underlying causes were not wanted or tolerated.  If a guy did not want his breasts cut off he must be a weirdo or gay.  They said any woman that played with them must be a closet lez.

I ahve lost some weight from a "D" to a "C".   They still do not sag & I do not wear a bra.  I wear a white T-Shirt & shorts during most of the summer.

No one since high school has ever made a remark, that I could hear, about the size of my breasts.  They only did it in HS once & learned it was not healthy.  I have mellowed out now.

I say again millions of men have large breasts , date, go to college, have jobs, marry, have children, & have happy lives.

They do not blame all their failures on the size of their breasts.

Most young guys make mountains out of molehills, pun intended.


Gyne is also normal in my family.


Now they aim all the negative stuff at 2 or 3 others.

One of which, Hypo, wants them to understand why the have large breasts & to go to a endo to maybe stop the growth before surgery.  He has a much better command of the words than I do, so I let him take most of the heat, except if I disagree with him.  That has happened once.

If the underlying cause is not corrected the breasts will grow back & the PS will gladly cut'em out again & again. Of course each time is for a few $thousand.

I tried to explain that but no one would listen to me either.  So I occasionally post for a week or so then I have to leave on trips for some of my work.

You can live very well with Gyne, millions of men do it.

G

[jc71]

Paa's right.  Breasts aren't the prob. attitude is.  So that leads to the question, what's the solution? Reduced to its simplest form:  I've spend 20 years attempting to change my attitude about my chest.  About 30 more pounds and I choose surgery.  

[hypo]

Gynecomastia can even be a good thing.

Wow- how so?

Because for the 25% of people that do have some underlying condition that has caused the gynecomastia, well gynecomastia is the bodies way of telling them all is not well and for those people it can help them get their underlying condition diagnosed and treated.

Of course for most people it is about attitudes, but I don't think the individual is to blame for his attitude.  

It is quite understandable how a female attribute will make most men feel uncomfortable, just as a beard would make most women feel uncomfortable.

For me my gynecomastia relates to my attitude, my psychology, but it is also the result of a hormone problem- my body was trying to tell me something.

For me getting rid of gynecomastia is also about the fact that I have back problems and it would help my back if it wasn't there.


But yes overwhelmingly it is a problem of attitudes and of psychology.

P.S

I certainly think we are all different and attitudes about our chests are going to be different from one another whether that is wanting sugery, been prescribed medication or living with the issue etc.  

Because we are different tolerance towards others views on this is required- none of this your keeping them you must be gay or your having surgery because you are psychologically inadequate should be acceptable.  

[headheldhigh01]

A year ago when I brought that kind of statements up, some of this group flamed me & wanted me banned from posting.  This was a cut'em-off-only group.

for the record -- and i and other people stressed this even back then -- the issue back then was not what you said, but the fact that you acted like an arrogant troll with huge attitude issues in how you went about saying it.  it was never something normal like "be proud of yourself", it was all "why are you letting these quacks butcher you, anyone who gets surgery is just insecure and nothing more, you need to all just learn to fondle yourselves like me" -- with no respect for anyone who chose differently from you.  it had nothing to do with keeping them, it was your mysterious inability to accept the fact other people have the right to do things differently from you.  you've got nobody to blame but yourself for that one.  

now, just like back then, i think you are capable of contributing useful things to the board, but respect for other people comes first.  we completely agree on the importance of good attitude, -- i just think it applies just as much to how you treat "cutter" people (as you so tactfully and respectfully and diplomatically put it even today ) as to gyne.    

[Paa_Paw]

My point is just this:  If you are near 20 and contemplating surgery,  I'll understand and support that choice. I'll also support the choice of the person who chooses to cope instead of cut.  

I once had a young man ask what a man my age was doing here, Didn't my surgery work?  The answer is that the surgical methods now used to Remove / Reduce mens breasts did not even exist over 20 years ago.  I am 67 and have lived with Gynecomastia since about 1949.  Your choice then was only to be man enough to live life with whatever you had. Yes, I got teased, but I learned to cope.

As a young man, I hated my breasts just as young men do today.  Are you going to allow something over which you have no control rule your life?  

We need to educate the people who think this is somehow abnormal and we need surgery to correct this "deformity."

Surgery that is unjustified amounts to nothing more than mutilation.  The high incidence of people who express some level of dis-satisfaction with their surgical result is alarming.  Just read these pages!

I think it is time to adopt Standards of Care for Gynecomastia.  Presumably these standards would include consultations with both an Endocrinologist and a Psychologist.  The former to verify that the cause of breast growth is either past or being treated; minimizing the chance of re-growth. The latter to determine if the patient has reasonable expectations regarding the surgical outcome and determine if surgery is truly justified.

Surgery to remove glandular tissue too small to cover a nickel and 50ml of fat is ludicrous.

[hypo]

Paw Paw Quote
I think it is time to adopt Standards of Care for Gynecomastia.  Presumably these standards would include consultations with both an Endocrinologist and a Psychologist.  The former to verify that the cause of breast growth is either past or being treated; minimizing the chance of re-growth. The latter to determine if the patient has reasonable expectations regarding the surgical outcome and determine if surgery is truly justified.
Unquote

We spoke about this before Paw Paw and I couldn't agree more.