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.

A procedure designed to take care of the excess fatty bulges between the collarbones to the pubic area is the Torsoplasty.

But hold on, sports fans! The Torsoplasty is for men at — or near — their optimum weight. Rough rule of thumb is: if you can pinch and hold a fatty area anywhere on your chest or lower abdomen, we can remove it while you are undergoing gynecomastia plastic surgery.

But if you have a protruding beer belly, a Torsoplasty can’t help there – the procedure is not a treatment for obesity.  That fat sits deep within your body, surrounding your internal organs. The fat we remove is above the muscle layer and just under the skin.

The only known treatment for that deep-down fat is the one you probably don’t want to hear: eat less, work out more.

Torsoplasty is something to consider if you are going to have gynecomastia surgery to remove your man boobs. The cost of surgery is much less by combining the two procedures in one surgical session.

Torsoplasty is often appropriate because even a very fit and active guy can be subjected to Mother Nature’s whims and have deposits of fat on the chest, stomach and side that just will not respond to stricter dieting and the most active workouts.

How capricious is Mother Nature? When a male gains weight, fat usually appears first on his chest, stomach and love handles. After that, the weight appears on the rest of his body.

And as he loses weight, the last places to become thinner are:

• The love handles
• Stomach
• Chest.

You can get an idea of the typical patients by looking at some Torsoplasty and gynecomastia surgery before and after pictures. (Pan down to picture #68)

After a Torsoplasty, the patient wears a one-piece body suit that fastens with eyes and hooks as well as a zipper.

It all helps:

• The body to heal
• Skin to tighten
• Lessen swelling
• Reduce pain