Gynecomastia is the medical term for when men grow breasts that are female-like (hence the “gyn” prefix). Obviously, most men do not like this phenomenon, which tends to happen when men get older, or when they are obese when they are younger. It can also happen to men who are relatively thin and fit – it all depends on that catch-all denominator, genetics.
While gynecomastia is a problem that is often embarrassing to men, it is also the subject of fodder for television and media, and of course amongst male circles of friends – and female circles too! Who hasn’t heard the term “moobs” (man boobs, or male boobs) or man tits – an even more hurtful synonym for the condition?
Of course, leave it to one of the best sit coms of all time to make light of a situation that many men find embarrassing and really try to find a way out of it via surgery or other avenues of getting rid of gynecomastia.
There was a famous episode, perhaps as well known as the soup nazi episode, where the gang came up with a “manssiere” – a bra for men who have a plethora of breast tissue. Hilarious, of course. There are actually such things as restraint garments for men who have issues with gynecomastia, but I don’t believe any go by the novel name of manssiere.
Gynecomastia is actually when the mammary area, or chest, has an overabundance of fat cells. While women are genetically programmed to grow breasts in that area, men are generally programmed to be flat in this area, as they do not have the evolutionary task of feeding infants breast milk as women do.
Men can even develop gynecomastia when they are very young and going through puberty, when their hormones are basically a free for all, and it is easy to get an imbalance of estrogens (female hormones) and androgens (male hormones).
While both sexes possess both types of hormones in their body, it is unfortunatley fairly easy for the body to get these two hormones out of whack. Male breast reduction pills can help regulate this sometimes, but a good diet and exercise regimen is also an excellent natural hormone regulator.
Alcoholics can also develop gynecomastia, and men who use certain types of drugs or abuse anabolic steroids can experience growth in their breast area, as well as shrinkage of some of their external their male organs.
