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. Without the ancient Greek jargon, most people know it as man boobs. Though there are a number of reasons why man boobs can form, the primary two are hormonal imbalances and excess fatty tissue, most common in obese and overweight men.
Hormonal imbalances can be from natural causes such as puberty. Sometimes adolescent boys will notice small lumps under or near their nipples and buddy breasts appear, but this usually goes away with the passage of time. 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. Boys that have man boobs will often isolate themselves from their peer group and avoid social situations that involve taking off their shirt like sports of beach activities.
Other causes of man boobs can come from a hormonal reaction to different types of medications, too much alcohol (especially beer) taking methamphetamines and marijuana and even from illnesses like cancer or liver disease.
There is another epic cause of man boobs which is far more problematic to deal with and can become a permanent problem if left untreated needing surgery to remove the male breast tissue. 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. Steroid induced man boobs are also far more persistent and hard to get rid of, and some that have been left untreated can require costly (risky, painful, etc) mamoplasty – not something any man wants to go through.
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. Breast will develop because of the way that steroids disrupt the balance of estrogen and testosterone in the body. Steroids stop the body’s natural testosterone production and if a user doesn’t put testosterone back into the body after a cycle of steroids then estrogen will be rampant in the body and feminine hips and breasts will develop. Not really what a guy using steroids would want to look like, but that’s one of the many risks involved.
After ceasing steroid use it can still take quite a while for the body to start its testosterone production and in many cases even after hormones are back to normal the breast do budge. Man boobs from other causes are easy to deal with compared to man boobs that come from steroid use.
There is one very easy solution, and that is to stay right away from steroids, and if you think about the other associated risk like shrunken testicles, looking like a stocking stuffed with tennis balls and our lovely flabby boobs there are plenty of good reasons to do so. 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. Body builders often use estrogen blockers, however there are not sufficient studies on the side effects to know for sure they may not just cause another kind of problem further down the track.
There are plenty of ways to try and reduce man boobs, and if you have man boobs and have never used steroids then you are just months away from having a manly toned chest once more, because male breast are totally treatable given the right natural remedies and lifestyle and diet changes. If you have steroid induce gynecomastia it may take a bit more time, however you should try every natural remedy prior to surgery, as it can be a costly as risky procedure that may or may not cure the problem.
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