The clinical term for the growth of breast tissue in men is known as Gynecomastia, from the Greek ‘gyne’ meaning woman and ‘mastos’ meaning breast. Ancient Greek aside, it is commonly known as man boobs. There are different reasons behind the formation of man boobs, but the two primary causes are excess fat (the case with obese men) and hormonal imbalances.
There are natural hormone imbalances in times like adolescence. Although man boobs in adolescent males usually disappear after a while, it is not at all uncommon for them to sprout small breasts of have lumps under their nipple for a couple of years. This is more likely to happen in overweight boys but even active and slim boys can experience it. No health risks are associated with this adolescent man boob growth, other than the social and psychological pain and stigmatisation that often goes with man boobs. Having man boobs as a teenager can often be very embarrassing and cause boys to shy away from sports and activities like swimming.
Man boobs can also be the result of a side effect from prescription medications, or from drug and alcohol abuse (marijuana, methamphetamines and beer are big ones) as well as diseases that can have man boobs as symptoms like certain cancers and liver disease.
There is another whopping cause of man boobs (leading to man boob epidemics) that can be very difficult to treat and can even become permanent breasts if left untreated, needing a surgeon’s knife to fix the problem. Of course it is anabolic steroid abuse, which is a huge cause of man boobs and is leading to increasing cases of the condition. Man boobs from steroids develop much faster and more noticeably than man boobs from natural hormonal imbalances because steroid use has such a heavy impact on your hormone levels. Man boobs that are resultant of steroid use are also more stubborn and if left untreated may actually develop into permanent tissue which can only really be removed by risky (not to mention hard on the hip pocket) male mamoplasty, which is not a great option for any man.
It is really not that uncommon for steroid using men (especially young men) to find that what they wanted to give them big strong bodies actually gave them feminine breasts, oh dear. Steroids really disrupt the balance of testosterone and estrogen in the body, and this is why breasts develop. Steroids work by inhibiting the body’s natural testosterone, so when a cycle is finished and a steroid user doesn’t put testosterone back in the system then huge levels of estrogen will cause buddy breast and feminine hips (lovely love handle!) to develop. Not really what a guy using steroids would want to look like, but that’s one of the many risks involved.
After taking steroids it can take a while for the body’s natural testosterone production to begin again and even when it does and hormones go back to normal the breast that have formed often remain. Man boobs from steroids are famous for being harder to get rid of than man boobs from other causes.
Of course the best solution is to avoid steroids at all costs, as the other associated risks like shrunken testicles are no more pleasant than flabby man boobs. For those who insist on taking steroids there are drugs available to block estrogen levels in the body and they can help stop man boobs forming. The effects of estrogen blockers are not fully known, so despite the fact they are taken by many bodybuilders, they may have hidden effects potentially more unsettling than man boobs.
If you suffer from man boobs and haven’t taken steroids, rest assured there are plenty of treatment available to naturally reduce man boobs and give you back the flat muscles that once reigned over your chest- given the right diet and lifestyle advice man boobs can be history. For those with man boobs as a result of steroids, don’t think surgery is the only way, try as many natural ways of eliminating your man boobs for good before opting for costly and risky surgery that might not even solve the problem.
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