Male Chest
Liposuction Male Breasts
Gynecomastia (male breast enlargement) is a very common condition in men. It can cause emotional embarrassment, social teasing, and psychological trauma. Many men often will hide their medical condition with thick shirts, avoid beach or athletic activities, and withdraw from public exposure.
It is unlikely that exercise and hormone treatments will have any significant results on this condition. The one great advantage of laser assisted liposuction is the instant results perceived. A single Smartlipo™ surgical procedure will immediately resolve this condition.
Causes of Gynecomastia include: (not an exhaustive list)
Alcoholism
Side effect of medications
Low levels of testosterone or male menopause
Renal failure
Testicular cancer or adrenal tumors
Cirrhosis of the liver
Severe starvation and protein calorie malnutrition
Lung cancer
Tuberculosis
Hyperthyroidism
If a man has a single enlarged breast, it may be a breast tumor and physicians must consider a diagnostic workup to include a mammogram and biopsy.
THE NORMAL MALE BREAST
The normal male breast contains both adipose (fat) tissue and fibrous glandular tissue. True breast tissue in males is typically a small-localized area located immediately under the nipple that is firmer than the surrounding fatty tissue. It is easy to remove fatty breast tissue by liposuction, but much more difficult to liposuction glandular male breast tissue. Prospective patients should understand it is sometimes difficult to accurately assess the relative amount of fat and true glandular breast tissue in a male breast. A routine mammogram and ultrasound may help in assessing the amount of dense glandular tissue located within the surrounding fatty tissue.
WHAT IS GOAL FOR LIPOSUCTION OF THE MALE BREAST?
The goal of Smartlipo™ is to improve the patient's physical appearance by removing as much fat as possible while avoiding any damage to skin or muscles. Liposuction of the male breast is one of the four areas on men most commonly treated by liposuction. The other areas are the abdomen, flanks, and chin/neck/jowls. Male patients with excessive fat in their breasts can expect significant improvement with tumescent liposuction.
WHAT IS PSEUDO-GYNECOMASTIA?
Pseudo-gynecomastia is defined as an enlargement of male breast(s) caused by an excessive amount of fat tissue, but a normal amount of glandular breast tissue. Most male breasts that appear unusually large are the result of excessive fat. A slight but cosmetically undesirable degree of pseudo-gynecomastia probably occurs in a majority of men as they become older. Excessively fatty breasts are not uncommon in younger men who are relatively obese.
CAN I REVERSE GYNECOMASTIA THROUGH DIET, EXERCISE, OR MEDICINE?
Unfortunately, for true gynecomastia, the answer is “no.” Once your mammary glands have grown from exposure to estrogen surgical excision remains the only option. A decrease level of estrogen won’t cause the breasts to shrink. In the end, patients with gynecomastia caused by increase adipose tissue in the breast, will most likely not be able to reduce this condition with diet and exercise.
SIDE EFFECTS, COMPLICATIONS, AND ALTERNATIVE APPROACHES
As with any surgery, a surgeon or patient can’t predict what may happen during or after surgery. Rare problems that can occur are insertion site scarring, keloids, post inflammatory hyperpigmentation of insertion scars, nodularity, skin irregularities, waviness of skin, localized tenderness, hyperesthesia, poor skin retraction, hematomas, seromas, and localized and systemic infection.
