Boys nipples

[Skinimum]

My 13yo DS has very enlarged nipples. Not the breast bit, just the nipples. GP says it's very normal and is a sign of hormonal warfare in puberty.

DS is mortified. He is extremely sporty, 6ft and skinny. He used to swim but now refuses to bare his chest to anyone inc me.

Any advice?!

Is it like a hard lump in the nipple which has caused it to swell. From what I've read it is quite normal and is caused by rising levels of testosterone being produced at the start of puberty. This causes the oestrogen levels to rise as the body produces more oestrogen to match the testosterone. It should last a couple of months, is your ds at the start of puberty? Because it is most common very early on which is around 12/13 in boys.

My DS got this sort of thing when he was 14.5
However, he eventually got swelling of the flesh around his nipple as well (yes only on one side) so basically he developed a bit of a moob!

I reassured him that it was quite normal with all the raging hormones but he was mortified and also wouldn't bare his chest. Things got a bit worse when he shot out of his bedroom to show me that he was also producing a bit of fluid out of his nipple. I told him to leave it alone and we paid a visit to the doctor.

The GP said that it's very common to have swelling there for boys and it's the surge in hormones that does it. However he did give DS a blood test about the fluid because that can be a sign of a tumour on his pituitary gland. It turned out that he had slightly raised levels of the hormone prolactin but not enough to be worried about. If it had been higher he'd have been sent for a brain scan. A second blood test a few weeks later showed it had come down a bit. I don't think that he'd have had a blood test if he'd not been producing the fluid.

Our doctor said that it would take a couple of years (not months) to settle down. DS was upset about that because I think he was hoping to be able to take a magic pill and it would all disappear. It's 18 months later and the moob is definitely smaller than it was, but it's not gone totally. He's still moping about it because he's lopsided. He said he wouldn't be so mopey about it if he was symmetrical!

Hopefully, time will sort it out for your DS (and mine!)

But he still won't wear anything tight across the chest because he's still self-conscious about it. And he still won't bare his chest. In all honesty, I don't think anyone would notice, but there's no telling him!