Severity?

[abcdefgh]

Hello everyone. Thank you all for the informative information that has already been shared in so many posts. I just wanted to get some opinions, particularly a second opinion from the doctors on this board.

Here’s the quick situation. I had a somewhat enlarged chest in my early teen years that resulted in self-conscious and embarrassing moments that so many have experienced. Over the years, I managed to live with the condition until recently, it seems like they have grown and become more noticeable (at least to me because of the bouncing and jiggling that didn’t seem to happen before).

My physician noted gynecomastia on my diagnosis report recently, but didn’t do any physical examination. That’s the first time any doctor has ever even made note of it. I have never been overweight, though at my heaviest, I weighed 198 lbs. That was for a short time, and I did lose the weight within a few months. I’m currently 6’ 2” tall and 182 lbs at 38 years old. I eat healthy and exercise regularly. I just can’t seem to wrap my mind around why I have had this particular condition for most of my life or why it seems worse recently (and there probably isn’t a solid answer).

Like so many before me, I am curious how gynecomastia is “graded”, if at all. I have seen some methods used on other sites such as measuring angles and assigning a number 1-7. I have heard of the mild, medium, severe, as well as the “on a scale of 1-10” method. I would just like to know opinions on the severity of my current configuration based on my poor photos below if anyone is willing to toss an opinion. Thanks for your help.

[Paa_Paw]

The condition rarely has any associated pathology so bad in the physical sense cannot actually be measured.  Obviously if there was some kind of pathology, like breast cancer, then it would be very bad.  
Bad can only be measured in terms of how it impacts your life.   As a teen when you were being teased, it would have been pretty bad.  When you became an adult and the teasing stopped it was not bad at all.  Now you are having some concerns again so the bad rating is up again. 
There have been attempts to grade or rate Gynecomastia but none of the methods is universally liked.  Some say that you have true Gynecomastia if you have glandular tissue. The same people say that you have Pseudo Gynecomastia if you have fatty tissue.   The actual truth is that most men have a mound of fat with glandular tissue threaded through it. At what ratio of fat to gland do you call it one or the other?   And,  How do you determine how much is one or the other without actually doing surgery? 
I note that your torso is quite hairless.  If that is your normal condition you might have a glandular problem and perhaps an Endocrinologist could help you.  Then too, it has become fashionable for men to shave their bodies so that may mean nothing.  Even so, If you think they are enlarging and you are concerned, an Endocrinologist is still the best place to go.

[Dr. Elliot Jacobs]

Questioning the severity is really moot.  The true question is whether you have gyne or not -- and the answer is that you do.

It is similar to asking if you have a touch of pregnancy -- the answer is you either are or are not pregnant.

The true question you should asking yourself is whether to have surgery or to accept it and try to mask it as best possible.

And some of my friends on this forum will urge you to accept it and not hide it -- that is a possibility as well.  These are the questions you should be asking.

Dr Jacobs

[abcdefgh]

Thank you both for your responses. You're right. My thought processes at this point have been centered on what I am going to do about it rather than how bad it is. I'm very healthy. I'm sure a lot of people would rather have incredible health accompanied by a benign condition than what they are currently facing.
Since my doctor officially diagnosed it, I have been paying a little more attention. I have had different blood tests looking for any sort of indicators. But as has been mentioned, often there are not any specific reasons. All of my tests came back within normal range. My doctor has not given any indication that she is concerned with it. Life goes on.