What is Gynecomastia?
Gynecomastia is male breast development and can be caused by hormonal change, weight increase, medication, drug use, and aging. Male breast development has increased over the past 10 years, likely due to weight gain. Weight loss can improve this but may result in extra skin remaining. Fat, breast tissue, and skin all make up the components of gynecomastia.
Mild Grade Gynecomastia
Gynecomastia is stratified into several groups and on this basis can then be successfully treated. A mild or grade 1 gynecomastia is a small amount of breast tissue that exists under the pigmented portion of the nipple and areola only. This is frequently seen in younger males during growth. Although this is physically a mild form of gynecomastia, it can be emotionally upsetting and inhibit activities that require either a t shirt or being bare chested such as swimming or beach related sports. This can be treated with COOLSCULPTING® or excision of the small amount of tissue in usually less than 45 minutes. Activity including work can resume in 24 hours.
Moderate Grade Gynecomastia
The moderate form of male breast development encompassed the above breast mass beneath the nipple areola complex, but extends more so beyond into the upper and lateral chest. There is little to no decent of the nipple areola complex from skin. This is the most common form seen in my practice and is treated with power assisted liposuction through tiny incisions near the underarm and if remaining tissue is evident after the liposuction is completed, then it can be removed directly as the mild form above all at the same setting.
Extensive Grade Gynecomastia
The more extensive or extreme form of gynecomastia is breast sagging in addition to an increase in size of the breast. The sagging of the nipple areola complex imposes a difficult challenge for a male as the incisions for a breast lift or reduction cannot be hidden. The goal standard approach has been a modified excision of skin and fatty tissue along the crease along with removal of the breast tissue beneath the areola through an incision from 3-6-9 o’clock. Liposuction, our choice is the PAL (power-assisted) liposuction machine, removes the residual tissue and contours the chest the easiest.
Non-invasion Treatments for Gynecomastia
We have experienced a marked increase in men interested in treating male breast development. Today there are more tools in the tool box for us to use. KYBELLA® is deoxycholic acid and dissolves fat with an injection. Capizzi, M.D. Cosmetic Surgery and Skin Care is in the 95th percentile of all users (personal communication from Allergan) for KYBELLA® and use it frequently among our patients. All of our providers are also COOLSCULPTING® University certified and our practice is a Certified Center for COOLSCULPTING®. Interested men can recline, work via our wifi, or watch Netflix while undergoing our treatment of COOLSCULPTING®. Not all COOLSCULPTING® is created equal. Stacking along with “The Capizzi Method” of care has resulted in excellent results for our male patients.
Experience more treatment options for men by contacting our Patient Care Coordinator, Julie Stavig.