Went to the doctor yesterday.

[ricochet]

I guess it started when I was about 11 or 12 years old. I was with my peewee football team when I noticed that I could make my chest look somewhat like a woman's breast. They thought it was funny and I didn't care.

But when I was 13 or 14, the other kids started to notice and make fun. The usual. I'm sure some of you have heard em all. I cared and it hurt my feelings and just about destroyed my self-image and my confidence.

Going through high school, I never took off my shirt in front of friends or family because of the fear of them looking down to me or possibly losing them as friends. (even though they never made fun or even knew about it)

Girlfriends that I've had never even knew about it or saw me without a shirt unless it was in the dark or dimly lit or I was cold and my skin was somewhat tightened. It is hard to be intimate the way I want to be. It also made it hard to keep a girlfriend because they thought I didn't like to be touched by them and it probably affected them as well.

I'm 38 now so it has been a long time that I've been living with this. And being a single father, home owner and working pretty much to pay the bills with very little for savings, I haven't been able to afford the surgery. I went to see the doctor yesterday and got a quote for $4800. OUCH!!! But from the before and after pictures that I've seen, it will be worth it. I'm gonna start making payments and when it's payed off and I have the surgery, I'll let y'all know how it went.

[Paa_Paw]

I could easily have written most of your first three paragraphs myself. Many of us tell nearly the same story.

Finally happily married, I am at a point in my life where it is no longer a major issue.  You are in a different place.

Do you have any kind of medical coverage? Many exclude coverage for male breast reduction but even some of them will approve it as a treatment for depression etc. Perhaps you might consider seeing a Psychologist if this is true in your case.