ANYTHING OVER A MOUTHFUL… SHOULD BE CUT OFF
The New York Times ran an ariticle about gynecomastia, the condition of enlarged male breasts. The article appeared in the June 14 2007 edition of the Times and included some surprising statistics about the prevalence of young men who are having breast reduction surgery to correct the affliction of “Man boobs.”
According to the Times reporter, 14,000 teenage boys aged 13 to 19 had breast reduction surgery. That is 70 percent of all the male breast reduction surgeries in 2005. The number of surgical procedures to correct enlarged male breasts is growing rapidly. The popularity of the procedure is attributed to modern teens (and their families) being more comfortable about seeking plastic surgery to correct physical abnormalities. The body-consciousness of teens also contributes to the decision for surgical correction.
Most cases of large male breasts are caused by obesity and statisitcs show that adolescent obesity has become a common problem in recent years. However, some young men have hormonal imbalances in late puberty that cause the breasts to grow disproportionately large. It is not abnormal for pubescent males to have fatty breasts but usually the body produces enough testosterone as part of the natural maturation process that makes the breasts seem normal again. Aside from surgery, some drug therapies can also treat hormonal breast growth.
Plastic surgeons usually assess the patient to determine the root cause of the breast enlargement. If it is simply obesity, the procedure can be performed at any time, although without diet and exercise improvements, the patient can revert to fatty breasts. In cases where the cause is a hormonal imbalance, there may be a need to wait to make sure the body has passed beyond puberty. If operated on too early, a pubescent male could still be producing more estrogen than testosterone and reduction surgery could be negated by the body’s natural processes. Steroid usage by some teens can also cause gynecomastia and surgery for those patients needs to be coordinated with an endocrinolist.
As crossdressers, we may have often thought that breast reduction surgery for women was a terrible waste of perfectly good boobs. But here are fellow males who have been “blessed” in an area that most of us feel profoundly wanting. And they too decide to surgically discard what we spend countless dollars and hours trying to create from whole cloth (so to speak). It just ain’t fair, I tell ya.
Category: All TGForum Posts, Transgender Opinion
About the Author (Author Profile)
I started crossdressing and going out publicly in 1988. I joined the Renaissance group in the Philadelphia area that year and later became chapter leader for two years in the '90s. I always enjoyed writing and wrote for the Renaissance newsletter and magazine throughout my membership years. I've been writing for TGForum for several years now. I also contributed items to LadyLike magazine and other TG publications before the advent of the internet. My hobby-within-a-hobby is singing live as my alter-ego Dina Sinatra and I have had the opportunity to do that with several accommodating performers and in a number of venues over the years since the mid-1990s. In the Diner column items here, I try to relate crossdressing or transgender themes (and my own pet peeves and fetishes) to the larger world -- and vice versa.Subscribe
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I’d gladly trade my excess body hair genes for the genetics behind this!