Really Bad Gynecomastia (DS 13)

[Nicole1976]

Hi, My 13 yr old boy seems to have really bad gynecomastia (man boobs)
he is overweight (5"0 and 9st 4lb) but they are really noticeable even when he has clothes on, he occasionally gets picked on for it at school when he is getting changed for PE and gets called fat. How can I sort out this problem ?

I remember seeing a lad with this problem on embarrassing illnesses. If I remember correctly, the doctor couldn't feel too much excess breast tissue so asked him to go away for 3 or 6 m and try hard to eat more healthily, start doing some more exercise - and of course he grew a good few inches in this time too. When he came back his bmi was much healthier and he looked slimmer, his 'man boobs' had really shrunk in relation to the rest of him, and the doctor said there wasn't need to do anything further. If he did have noticeable excess breast tissue then just losing weight won't necessarily fix the problem completely but I'm not sure what the other treatment options were.
Certainly getting healthier so he doesn't keep gaining too much weight as he grows taller would be a good idea, and I certainly would make an appointment with the GP to find out if the source of the problem is just excess weight or something more hormonal.

Has he been diagnosed?

No

Well, that would be your first step. Go to the GP and get diagnosed.
It may just be a case of your boy needing to slim down a bit.

Or, if it is genuine breast tissue then GP will refer as appropriate.

But make that GP appt.

You need to go to the GP. It may be that he needs to lose weight rather than having excess breast tissue, if it's the latter then they can refer you to a plastic surgeon. But they may want him to lose weight first.

If he does end up having the operation it's usually just an overnight stay.