Related articles: Gynecomastia
Definition
Gynecomastia is the enlargement (hypertrophy) of mammary gland tissue in male subjects. The increase in volume can affect both breasts or manifest asymmetrically; excess tissue is generally transient, soft and distributed under the areola. Also, breasts can be painful.
Gynecomastia is not tumoral and should not be confused with pseudogynecomastia, which consists in increasing the adipose tissue of the breast without hypertrophy of the glandular tissue. In gynecomastia, breast enlargement is caused by hormonal imbalance, particularly testosterone levels (responsible for controlling the development of male traits) compared to estrogen levels. In other words, it can occur due to reduced testosterone production, increased estrogen production or excess prolactin.
Different conditions can affect the normal balance of hormones, including testicular tumors, hypogonadism, hyperthyroidism, chronic nephropathy, severe obesity and liver failure. Another cause that can be the cause of a gynecomastia is the intake of some particular drugs, including anabolic steroids, antineoplastic and antiandrogens (used, for example, to treat prostate cancer).
In some cases, gynecomastia is idiopathic (no obvious cause) or can be considered physiological (puberal or senile gynecomastia).
Possible Causes * of Gynecomastia
- Alcoholism
- Liver Cirrhosis
- Kidney failure
- Hyperthyroidism
- Male hypogonadism
- Leprosy
- Klinefelter syndrome
- Testicular cancer
- Pituitary tumors
