Male Breast Reduction Surgery on Obese Teens: O.K.!
When I see a gynecomastia teen patient from 11 to 14, and he comes into my office obese or overweight, I’m never quite sure what to think at first.
Over the years, I’ve found that many teens who develop the large, female-like breasts of gynecomastia, will gain needless weight on purpose to disguise their breasts. Sad as it may sound, it’s more acceptable in our culture for a boy to bulge all over due to overweight than to only bulge in his chest.
Still, male breast reduction surgery is possible. And I’ll be more encouraged than ever to perform the procedure if the boy admits he has been eating too much and promises to exercise and eat a more reasonable diet in the future.
Although many pediatricians and other surgeons prefer to be conservative and see if the condition just goes away, it’s very possible the youngster will suffer through his highly valuable teen years, waiting in vain.
But now, there is a new medical report out on teen gynecomastia patients observing male breast reduction surgery on obese and overweight boys.
I was also happy to see the researcher/ authors were plastic surgeons and experts in adolescent medicine at the Adolescent Breast Clinic at Children Hospital Boston and at Harvard.
The researchers studied the medical records of 69 teen boys who had male breast reduction surgery between 1997 and 2008. Writing in the April 2010 issue of Annual of Plastic Surgery, the authors noted they started the study because the roles of obesity or overweight on persistent gynecomastia are poorly understood.
The physician researchers were also sensitive to the fact that obese teens suffer greater psychological impacts.
Using the popular body mass index (BMI), the researchers carefully studied the records of 51 percent of patients who were obese, 16 percent who were overweight and 33 percent who were normal weight. (More about the gynecomastia study.)
They found major complications in four cases and minor complications in19.
Findings? The researchers found the obese patients required longer operations but that there was no different in the satisfaction of those patients or complications rates when compared to the normal weight group.
Conclusion? Obesity alone should not be used to rule out gynecomastia surgery.
Next: What does rule out teen gynecomastia surgery.
View teens’ before and after gynecomastia pictures.