Gynecomastia And Its Physical & Psychological Impact on Males

It’s so great to feel confident in your skin, in any situation, anywhere, with anyone. Your confidence can change people’s perception towards you and the way you feel about yourself can affect your relationships. If you are struggling with overdeveloped breasts, you might be facing some difficulty in feeling comfortable in your own body due to the visible transformations and side effects of Gynecomastia. Besides the physical changes, this condition also affects your mental well-being well. 

Gynecomastia

Gynecomastia is a common condition that occurs in males. It is also generally known as man boobs or man breasts. It is the over-development of breasts tissues that leads to swelling in the chest making it enlarged. The breasts may grow unevenly. Even though breast tissues are present in both females and males, it is not noticeable in males until they are dealing with problems like Gynecomastia that leads to the enlargement of the chest. 

Even the word Gynecomastia is derived from Greek words ‘Gynec’ and ‘mastos’ which mean Female and breast respectively. A loose translation of both these words, when used together, would be Women like breasts. This is why when a male person has Gynecomastia his chest seems female-like. 

There are two types of Gynecomastia: Pseudogynecomastia and Truegynecomastia. Pseudogynecomastia is a condition caused by excess fat in the chest while true gynecomastia is the development of breast tissues that are more severe.

 

Causes of Gynecomastia

There are many reasons why this condition may influence and increase the chances of gynecomastia in a male person.  

Hormonal Imbalance: Hormonal imbalance can be considered as one of the major reasons for gynecomastia. The decline in the level of male hormones called testosterone and the rise in the level of female hormones called Oestrogen can lead to the over-development of breast tissues. Though you may think that oestrogen is an exclusively female hormone, men naturally produce small quantities as well. The overabundance however causes breast growth. 

Steroids: Gym goers and bodybuilders that take heavy steroids and supplements also go through severe grades of Gynecomastia at some point in their body transformation journey. 

Health conditions: Health conditions like Kidney Failure, Liver failure, or Hyperthyroidism can also fluctuate the hormonal levels and lead to Gynecomastia 

Medications and drugs: Some medicines and drugs have estrogen-like properties in them that increase the ratio of the female hormone to male hormone in the body that lead to hormonal imbalance and causes gynecomastia. 

Testicular issues: A person dealing with penile issues may develop an infection or even cancer leading to an imbalance in the hormonal levels causing Gynecomastia and other testicular failure symptoms. 

Other common causes of Gynecomastia are obesity with excess fat on the body, poor diet intake, aging, etc. 

Symptoms  & Side effects Gynecomastia

Symptoms include swelling and tenderness in the areola, soft lump, or fatty tissue around the nipples. In some cases, people may start to feel pain, nipple discharge, or a combination of these. 

A person suffering from Gynecomastia may start to notice changes in their chest area progressively over time with four types of Grades: 

Grade 1: Mild Gynecomastia, with minor breast enlargement without the development of excess skin 

Grade 2: Moderate Gynecomastia, breast tissue extends beyond areola with moderate enlargement without the development of excess skin 

Grade 3: High Gynecomastia, breast tissue extends further into breast zone with moderate enlargement and development of excess skin around. Here, the man’s boobs become a little detectable by others. 

Grade 4: Severe Gynecomastia, there is breast enlargement with excess skin on the chest. Here, the chest appears similar to that of a women’s breasts. 

Although Gynecomastia is a condition that leads to a lot of physical changes in a male body, especially around the chest area, it also affects the mental health of the person. 

It leads to a lot of mental, emotional, and psychological traumas. This can further lead to self-esteem issues, body image issues, eating disorders, social anxiety, body dysmorphia, lack of confidence, bullying from peers, and other disruptions to mental stability of a person. 

This condition not only affects you but also has some influence on the people around you. How you feel about yourself can affect your relationships. You may be avoiding intimacy, out-door activities, or situations that put your body on a show out of self-consciousness or embarrassment. 

Unfortunately, even vigorous exercise and strict diet control may not be effective in getting rid of the excess fat in your chest and reducing the size of your breasts. 

Gynecomastia treatments

A person can get rid of pseudogynecomastia with a healthy diet intake, a workout routine, fat burner pills, and exercises that are intended towards chest buildup; true gynecomastia can’t be treated on its own with medication and an exercise regimen and requires surgical treatment for a permanent solution. The latest techniques available for a fat reduction surgery are Liposuction and Mastectomy.  These surgeries are minimally invasive and pretty effective with a fast recovery time and desired results. 

Even though this condition isn’t considered very alarming to your physical health in the medical field, it is still advised by health care experts to get a permanent treatment of gynecomastia so as to avoid the side effects of Gynecomastia on mental health which can critically harm the overall well-being of the person. 

Also Read: Gynecomastia Treatment Without Surgery