Gynaecomastia is enlarged male breast tissue. So gynae means a female, whereas mastia refers
to breast. So, gynaecomastia is enlarged breast tissue in men. And it can range from puffy
nipples to enlarged breasts with excess skin. How do you know you have gynaecomastia? Basically,
every enlarged breast tissue is not abnormal but if it's affecting the way it looks in
your clothing, if it's affecting your confidence then you know that you're suffering from it.
And there's many ways of treating this. One of the other features that people with gynaecomastia
however is that sometimes you can have symptoms which is very rare. You can have a bit of
discomfort, pain or sometimes rarely a discharge. In some patients, the areola which is a dark
part of the of the breast skin is also enlarged because of the stretching of the skin. And
not all patients who think have gynaecomastia have enlarged breast tissue. So, if you think
gynaecomastia is what you're suffering from, then you will know because it can become obvious.
True gynaecomastia is caused by enlarged breast tissue gland, whereas a pseudo gynaecomastia
which is gynaecomastia caused by fat is caused by just accumulation of fat in the breast
tissue. True gynaecomastia is enlarged gland that can be caused by either the physiological
reasons or abnormal reasons. Physiological reasons are basically when you, for example,
when you're born-- sometimes newborns have got slightly enlarged breast tissue and that's
from their mother's hormones, maternal hormones. And then when you're going through adolescence
as a male adolescent, you also have abnormality in the proportions of your female to male
hormones. And then the last stage is when you're all in old age, there's also abnormality
in the breakdown of hormones or the production of hormones and that changes the proportion
again, which can result in gynaecomastia. The other abnormal causes when, for example, you
have a medical condition, either a liver disease or in the production-- that means breaking
down the hormones or production of the hormones, that can also affect the level of our hormones.
For example, liver disease or testicular disease when there is increased production. Then you
have medicines. For example, some prescription drugs have side effects of gynaecomastia or
these days which is more common is bodybuilders or people using pro hormones and anabolic
steroids that definitely changes the balance of your male to female hormones. And one of
the side effects is gynaecomastia. There's again, these days is a lot of exposure to
industrial chemicals, pesticides. These to some extent can affect your proportions of
male to female hormones as we know.
Gynaecomastia is quite common. We are taught
that it's 1% of the population. But there are studies that have been shown that it affects
up to 50% of males’ autopsies. Of course, not all of them suffer from gynaecomastia,
but in large grunts, it's present in more men than we think. In my practise, I've seen
a lot of increase in men walking in with gynaecomastia because either they've used anabolic steroid
hormones or they've gained weight or they've had it in their teenage years and the gynaecomastia
has persisted. And also, we know that these days it's more exposure to pesticides, industrial
chemicals and prescription medication including for hair loss, for example. And all these
to my experience and belief is that there is a bigger number of people suffering from
gynaecomastia than we think.
Once you've ruled out sinister causes and
if it's still affecting you, it is kind of cosmetic surgery. The way we treat this depends
on what you're presenting with. The grade of your gynaecomastia. It ranges from puffy
nipples to large breasts with excess skin. So that means the treatment can just mean
removal of gland or liposuction only or both, which we do in more patients: both gland removal
and liposuction. Some patients need auto sculpting and some will need all these treatments with
removal of the excess skin. My approach is local anaesthetic, because I feel it's safer
and in my hands it's more efficient and quicker. Patients don't have to stay in hospital and
they don't have a downtime they have with general anaesthetic. And also, the patient
participates in the treatment. I can communicate with patients. So, the treatment-- the aftercare
also depends on the type of gynaecomastia you have, whether you you've had liposuction or
you've had gland removal. So, if you have any more questions about the treatment, feel
free to contact me. Thank you for watching.