But just to be sure, let me consult with you guys first. I can feel a lumpy sorta mass on the area surrounding the nipple and under it of course, and it contracts due to the cold or stimulation. Although I know mine may not be as bad as most, it still completely kills my confidence. I have taken up a workout routine, with a proper nutrition plan (sorta, I cut out most bad foods, eat healthy meals and I eat at set intervals during the day) although I never bothered with cardio exercise, which was a stupid mistake on my part. I was previously very skinny, I hardly ate all that much and never really exercised all either. I had relatively no fat on me, yet I still had these 'puffy nipples'.
I have put on quite alot of weight since then, due to my eating habits and a protein shake with increased amounts of carbohydrates to stimulate more muscle gains. Due to this I have gained quite a bit of fat along with muscle also (which is why I have taken up cardiovascular exercise along with weight training now) but I still don't think this has changed my chest all too much, maybe slightly.
My 'puffy nipples' appeared around 5 years ago. I noticed a quite 'painful to the touch' feeling under the areola area of both nipples, I knew something must have been wrong by that point. One of my friends noticed while I was getting changed for PE session and decided to point it out to the whole world, being the idiot he was. Eventually this pain subsided, and I just forgot about it, thinking my chest looked normal anyway, and I just went on with my life.
Only in recent months have I truly noticed the full extent of how it looks, and I can say it has completely crushed my confidence. It even discourages me from working out sometimes because I get so mad at the fact I have it, yet I know I can't do anything about it so I feel like giving up. There's no way in hell I could afford surgery, and compression vests won't cut it for me, since I would like to walk around with my shirt and vests won't help me there.
The main thing I wished to ask, is that is it possible to get rid of it without surgery? I've seen programs on the internet exclaiming that they have eradicated the problem through certain lifestyle changes, they even show pictures of it and it seems pretty convincing. I have read that the problem is mostly due to hormonal imbalances (and with the way I was when it first appeared, I'm pretty convinced this is the case for me) and I was thinking maybe by eating the right foods, cutting out nutrition containing sources of estrogen and continuing my working regimen could possibly shrink or maybe even completely get rid of the problem.
I am currently 17 years old, I have had the problem for 5 years, which some say means it is most likely there to stay. I am still not quite through puberty yet (obviously) and I seem to be a bit of a 'late bloomer', I'm sure I'm only around halfway through my puberty years. I was thinking that maybe at the age for peak testosterone levels (roughly around 20 years of age) that maybe I could naturally get rid of them. I am going to stick with the my working out and nutrition plan, which I plan to stick with my whole life, and hopefully in the next few years I might either severely reduce the size of the tissue or even rid of it completely.
Now's that part where you guys come in. Tell me what you think, if I'm in too deep or wether there is a dim light of hope for me yet. I refuse to believe surgery is the only way.
I'll link some pictures too. The quality/slash size of the pictures kind of makes it hard to properly notice the problem to it's full extent, but it's better than nothing. (Sorry about the size, it's from my webcam, and I couldn't get adequate lighting in my room either....). When I'm wearing a t-shirt, not only do the nipples protrude, but my chest has a more flat diagonal shape to it, rather than the normal round shape that guys should have.
EDIT: Also my weight is currently 147 pounds and slowly increasing, at just under 5" 8 (yeah, I'm a bit of a shorty
). My weight roughly 7 months ago weighed in at 125 pounds (I was pretty skinny back then).