Gynecomastia Causes And Solutions
What is Gynecomastia?
There are few medical conditions as unflattering as gynecomastia, the development of mammary glands in males that lead to swelling of breast size to the same magnitude as a female. Gynecomastia causes depend upon several conditions of hormone in an improper balance with the brain and endocrine system. Each male or female receives a certain quantity of sex-specific hormones during infancy that lead to the differences of sex characteristics. These hormones will be part of the change in puberty that leads to the development of male secondary sex characteristics, such as an Adam’s apple and facial hair, or female secondary sex characteristics, such as breasts and enlarged hips.
There are three separate periods of a male’s life when he may be affected by gynecomastia. The first occurs during the early stages of infancy and is almost impossible to recognize. The gynecomastia causes of early stage development are likely the impact of so many of the mother’s female hormones passing through to the child in breast milk. The endocrine system has not fully formed by the time of a child’s birth, so improper hormone levels can be impacted by breast feeding in the same way that the weak immune system needs a mother’s antibodies to defend against infection and disease.
Gynecomastia Stages
After infancy, it is not uncommon for teenage boys to develop male mammary glands during puberty. The complexities of the body changing into a functional adult often involve hormone mishaps, such as the development of single facial hairs long before others. Such an imbalance will lead to 
gynecomastia, which acts as a major traumatic experience for most teenage boys, even though the condition can be treated with surgery. Even if the mammary glands are not removed, the condition in pubescent boys will revert to normal in the course of a year or two.
The final stage of gynecomastia can come much later in life in elderly men. Most often this is not a result of hormones but of improper diet and diseases. Metabolic conditions can trigger gynecomastia in elderly men, as can sedentary lifestyle. While obesity at any age is thought to play a part in gynecomastia causes, it seems most prevalent among the elderly.
Several less typical cases of gynecomastia causes develop with bodybuilders. The production of fat or muscle is controlled by the endocrine system and the use of certain supplements (most notably creatine) will jump start muscle growth at the expense of fat production. While this is ideal for developing excellent body imagery, sometimes the hormones of bodybuilders will seek to compensate for the imbalance, resulting in the condition. It is only the performance drugs that will produce male mammary glands: exercise alone is not one of the gynecomastia causes that result in male breasts.
Treatment is relatively simple. A surgical procedure can remove the glands in one setting and radiation therapy will be used to prevent further growth. Some insurance companies do not cover the costs of restorative surgery, as they mark it as a cosmetic operation rather than a practical operation.
