After that, life for all gynecomastia patients is as predictable as it is miserable. Both boys and girls tease those kids without mercy because, really, boys are supposed to have flat, hard masculine chests.

Troy knows that wearing white will accentuate his large breasts so he takes great pains to dress in black or in large, baggy T-shirts with bold lettering. Of course, none of that will stop the daily badgering and belittling. And he dare not ever be seen with his shirt off.

The cruelest taunts of all include: “No girl wants a boyfriend with bigger boobs than she has!” and pointing fingers attached to others who shout  “Man boobs!”

Troy and his plastic surgeon, Elliot Jacobs, M.D., appeared on a recent television segment of The Doctors, along with Troy’s mom – who is now one very happy woman.

Why, you ask, is the mom so happy?

Because Troy had gynecomastia surgery about four weeks ago and is already enjoying the bliss of fitting in perfectly with his peers and not being singled out for a body feature that is seen by other teens as being something close to a freak of nature.

We can’t show you the actual television episode due to copyright restrictions but, thanks to the marvels of the Internet, we can provide a link at which you can watch Troy’s surgery as the actual breast tissue is surgically excised from his chest in a procedure also known as male breast reduction.

Watch the gynecomastia surgery at The Doctors’ website.

And for male breast reduction on a 15-year-old.

Be sure and watch for the cut-away model of a male breast with gynecomastia. It shows exactly how and where the problem occurs.

Before Male Breast Reduction Surgery

If you have a son in the teen years, you don’t want to miss Dr. Jacobs’ appearance on the nationally syndicated show, The Doctors on Monday, May 10^th.

Dr. Jacobs will be talking about adolescent gynecomastia and with one of his young patients who will comment on his own life and surgery shown in a film clip and some before and after gynecomastia surgery pictures.

If you’ve followed our blog posts, you know that large fleshy breasts on a teen boy can make his life a living hell.

The lad is:

• Belittled
• Ridiculed
• Shamed on a daily basis.

After Male Breast Reduction Surgery

This, at a time in life when a young man should be learning self-confidence, how to fit in with his peers and – above all – how to cope with the fairer gender. But instead, he spends all his time trying to hide his “man boobs.”

Sure, understanding girls and females can take the rest of any guy’s life. But a young man starts out completely behind the eight ball in the battle of the sexes if teen lasses reject him because no girl wants a boyfriend who has bigger boobs than she!

In New York, the show appears on WCBS-TV, channel 2 at 9 a.m.

In Los Angeles, The Doctors broadcasts on KCAL, channel 9 at 11:00 a.m.

To catch up on teens with gynecomastia, take a gander at our most recent posts on the topic:

• A cute teen girl in the school cafeteria pinches a boy with gynecomastia and asks what his bra cup size is.

• Teens ponder on telling others they have had male breast reduction surgery.

• Another teen with gynecomastia never left home because, if he socialized, he found “everybody staring at me.”

While some pediatricians and even plastic surgeons are against it – thinking the lad may outgrow the condition – the teen patient’s life can be hellish if the condition does not go away. Others say the breasts may grow back after surgery. (They don’t!)

According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), 14,203 patients between 13 and 19 went under the knife in 2008 for male breast reduction.

(2009 statistics will be available soon.)

While I’m not a psychologist, anybody who hears these lads’ stories would conclude some damage is being done at a critical time in a young man’s life when he should be building self-confidence, not having his image torn down daily.

For the teen with large breasts (or “man boobs” as they are cruelly known) teasing and finger pointing can also destroy his fledgling ability to relate to both boys and girls.

Recently a teen gynecomastia patient complained of school bullies flicking his breasts as if he were a girl. And here’s what he said about his social life, which is usually very active for any teenager: “I don’t like going out because it seems like everybody is staring at me.”

It turned out that Tim’s father also suffered as a teen with large breasts and did not want to see his son go through the same thing.

One boy, pictured below, was only 12 when he and his family came to see me about male breast reduction surgery.  (Read The Post-Standard article from  Syracuse, N.Y. about teens with gynecomastia .) The after picture was taken in February, 2010.

After surgery, the youngster was so motivated, he lost 35 pounds through diet and exercise!

In another case, a mother wrote about her son whose breasts started growing when he was only 10.

Some female classmates said it would not be cool to have a boyfriend with bigger breasts than they had! Naturally, the lad was crushed.

(Read the touching letter of the mother whose son had gynecomastia.)

I’ve performed male breast reduction surgery on over 175 teens and recommend it, if certain diagnostic criteria exists like:

• Stability for at least two years.

Breast size have not changed

• Being emotionally mature.

He must understand treatment is an operation, with all that entails.

(Read more about when teens should have gynecomastia surgery.)

Of course, it’s probably worse in the mind of patient because he imagines everybody is staring only at his chest.

For a teen, the first year of high school is tough.

Due to the huge wash of testosterone washing through his pubescent body for the first time, girls become tremendously important. But for teen girls, cruel remarks are unfortunately seen as being fully in order and even fun.

Except for the boy at which the zingers are aimed!

The standard teen remark is usually something about no girl wanting a boyfriend with bigger breasts than she has. Ouch!

Thus begins a long covering and concealing process, using large shirts, baggy sweat shirts, hoodies  and, sometimes, several layers of T-shirts, shirts and sweat shirts. Some guys even bind their chests with yards of Ace bandages or cover their “poofy” nipples with tape which can discolor the skin.

Factor in summer weather and you have one miserable kid.

At the pool or beach, you’ll find that same youngster swimming in a T-shirt — if he dares go into the water at all. Then, as soon as he gets out, he wraps his torso in a big thick towel or beach towel.

Almost all gynecomastia patients, unless they can find something darker, choose to wear black tops.  That color seems to best hide bulky or fleshy bulges.

Most wouldn’t be caught dead in white which tends to reveal almost all the body’s outlines.

As the guy with “man boobs” studies his condition more, he also discovers the compression garment which is actually intended for wear after surgery.

Nonetheless, some men will don a compression vest daily to flatten their breasts before dressing. The vests are made of elastic and compress the fatty tissues.

The downside: compression garments are hot!

Possible upside: the misery factor starts many guys thinking more seriously about diet and exercise. Many join a gym, work hard and lose weight — except in the one place they so devoutly wish to slim down: the chest and breasts.

Then, having tried literally everything, they start reading, learning and thinking about the next logical step:  male breast reduction surgery.

A few moments spent with typical gynecomastia surgery before and after pictures often brings him to a consultation with a plastic surgeon.