Which gynecomastia do I have?

[Credone]

I'm 15 years old and I've had "man boobs" for as long as I can remember(prepubescent). Currently I am a member of my hs's cross country and track & field team. I also run marathons. Having this crap has been detrimental to my physical and emotional health and through my search to remedy the situation I stumbled upon this forum. So I humbly ask for anyone's help.
What type of gynecomastia do I have and what can I do to eliminate it. Can I expect this to go away in time or is it permanent due having even before i became a teen? My gynecomastia is pretty much identical to the two pictures shown here: http : //emedicine . medscape . com /article/1273437-overview. (remove spaces as i don't have enough posts to properly post the link)

Any and all feedback is appreciated.
Thanks.

 

[kx250rider]

I'm not a doctor, but I've been in the sport of fitness & bodybuilding since I was your age ( and I'm an old guy now). If the problem you have is "left over" from being a little heavy as a kid, and now you're in shape, it's probably a body fat issue and not gynecomastia. It might get a lot better with time and patience. But if you were never heavy, and you've tried hard to get rid of it, and if you've hit puberty and have grown in height & size, and it's still there, you probably need to see a doctor about it. Regular doctors don't always care about things like this, and if your parents belong to an HMO insurance plan, you might have a problem getting permission from the insurance company for this kind of problem. But with that said, a doctor will be able to tell exactly what's in there, and will recommend how to get rid of it. If surgery is what's recommended, don't worry, it's no more serious than having a tooth out. Some procedures are just a needle to suck out fat, or if you DO have adult-type gyno, they numb you with novocaine and just make a small cut under each nipple, and pull it out in 1 piece. You don't even have to stay overnight, and if you're OK with being awake when they do it, it's not a big deal at all. You can see gyno surgeries on YouTube. But I have the feeling that most doctors won't want to do that for you until you're full-grown, in case it might go away by itself. But I sure wouldn't want to wait another day if I were you, so I would want to push hard for help! Sometimes dealing with doctors can be hard & disappointing, and that's because most doctors can be narrow-minded about things like this, and think you should like your body the way it is, and only have surgery if you have a medical need for it. Bullsh*t! A problem like yours can totally wreck a young man's ego, and drive you do depression, or cause you to feel bad about yourself and get you a rotten girlfriend/wife later, and I could go on & on. You're smart to have gone out looking for answers, and I think you'll solve this. I know I'm off on a tangent with that last comment, but believe me from personal experience, things that bother you at age 15 will breed more, and bigger things if not worked with early. Self-image is very important, and it's fragile enough as a teenager without some kind of a medical problem that embarrasses you and makes it even harder to strengthen.

As far as trying to figure out exactly what your situation is before you see a doctor, you can do this: My understanding is that if you're in good shape (low body fat) and you have gyno, you can probably feel a jelly-like glob in there. At the edges of the glob, you just feel skin & muscle. If you can't find an edge, you might have a fat deposit even if you are in shape. Liposuction can fix that, and is probably the best bet in that case.

Let us know how it goes...

Charles

 

[Credone]

thanks for your advice

The next time I go to my pediatrician or doctor I'll ask what I can do. My insurance is called LA Care and if I'm not mistaken it's HMO. Surgery is definitely out of the question though as my parents probably wouldn't allow or pay for it. :S
I'm about 5.6 - 5ft.7in tall and weigh 149 lbs give or take a few since its been a little while since i weighed myself. My bf% is 11.5 and according to a body fat chart that is within the "athletes" range.
After searching around a way to diagnose myself would be to feel if I have a hard, marble sized object behind my nipple, if I feel any periodic pain in my chest, or if my nipples are sensitive. So far I feel nor have felt any of those symptoms. maybe its just fat deposit as when I was younger I had a bmi of 24 -24.9 and had a body % of 25% at my highest.
I've been doing pushups, dips, pullups, crunches etc. to shape my upper body. However, changes have been noticeable everywhere except my chest. >:|

 

[kx250rider]

You're welcome!

I have the feeling that you will get rid of a lot of it, and hopefully all of it, by just keeping your body fat levels like you're doing, and your own body will help you out when the hormones normalize. By those numbers, you're doing an excellent job of being in shape, and you've educated yourself on these things a lot more than most people who show up on this forum. The biggest cause of gynecomastia is too much estrogen and/or not enough testosterone, and those imbalances happen normally before, during, and right after puberty. Your dr. will probably be able to tell you when you can expect to know whether your gyno will go away, or if it's going to need attention.

And I feel the need to offer some un-invited advice, only because you happened to be on THIS forum, which discusses "hormone-modifying substances" with regard to fitness & bodybuilding. Please, at age 15, don't even THINK about any of the things some of the people here are talking about and doing (besides weightlifting), as some of those things could completely screw up your whole hormone makeup for life, if you take stuff too young. If your system gets infused with hormones from outside while it's still maturing and balancing itself, it will condition itself not to make enough of its own. Then you will have a deficiency if you ever stop the "external" source.

Charles