Men and women all have breasts. Usually the women dominating in this aspect, as women compete between themselves as to who owns the biggest ones. In today’s generation, a woman is considered dominantly beautiful and attractive if she has huge breasts. However, men with not-the usual-size breasts are the basic, obvious and easy-to-understand-why interpretation of what gynecomastia is. This is the abnormal growth of men’s breasts to a size that is supposedly not to be that eye catching like that of women caused by the unusual growth of mammary glands. It is the imbalance of hormone levels where the estrogen (female hormones) levels are higher than that of the androgen (male hormones) levels. It can happen in the stages of infancy, puberty and in middle age to older men. Gynecomastia that appears through infancy and puberty and dissolves through time is defined as physiologic gynecomastia.

Sometimes, gynecomastia that evolves in puberty perseveres beyond two years and it is referred to as continuous pubertal gynecomastia. No medication has been authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or FDA to cure gynecomastia. There are medications, however they are only effective when gynecomastia is still on the early stages, otherwise removing it surgically is the other alternative.

Drugs used to cure gynecomastia:

• Testosterone replacement have been successful in older men who have low levels of the testosterone
• tamoxifen and raloxifene also known as selective estrogen receptor modulators or SERMs. Commonly used for painful gynecomastia has been used to minimize breast mass but is not successful in discarding all of it.
• anastrozole an aromatase inhibitor is a set of drugs that meddles with the combination of estrogen however this has also failed to cure gynecomastia.

Medical conditions that may bring about gynecomastia:

• Malnutrition
• Disorder of the male sex organs (the testes) – can result in low testosterone levels and high estrogen levels causing gynecomastia
• chronic renal failure
• hypothyroidism

Gynecomastia may also be a side effect of certain medications, some of which are:

• skin-care products containing tea tree oil and lavender oil
• valium
• abusive drugs like alcohol, marijuana and heroin
• digitoxin
• methyldopa
• HAART or highly active anti-retroviral therapy for HIV disease
• drugs that cure ulcer like omeprazole – generic name (Prilosec – brand name), ranitidine (Zantac) and cimetidine (Tagamet)
• estrogen remedies for prostate cancer
• spinorolactone – generic name (Aldactone – brand name), a diuretic which has anti-androgenic activity
•  drugs for hypertension
• ACE inhibitor drugs, like captopril, enalapril
• Calcium channel blockers, for example: nifedipine and some antibiotics (for example, ketoconazole and metronidazole)

These days, it is common for people to see men with big stomachs but not men with large breasts. It is a very disturbing sight. There is a big possibility that men having this kind of atrocity is uncomfortable with what they are carrying. Good thing for the gay transsexuals though, as they will not have to worry about how to make their breasts bigger. They must be very happy about this. Now, we are left with the most important question, should men with gynecomastia start wearing bras too?