In Greek ‘Gyne means woman and ‘mastos’ means breast, and so the technical term for extra breast tissue on the chest in males is known as gyencosmastia. Without the ancient Greek jargon, most people know it as man boobs. Though there are a number of reasons why man boobs can form, the primary two are hormonal imbalances and excess fatty tissue, most common in obese and overweight men.

Puberty is one of the natural times when man boobs can develop because of natural hormone disruptions. It is not uncommon for boys at puberty to bud small breasts and feel lumps near or under their nipples, but these usually vanish with time. Boys with a little extra weight are more likely to have breast development, but slim and healthy boys can also experience it. Other than the social stigma that boys with man boobs may feel there are no known health risks for man boobs at adolescence. Boys that have man boobs will often isolate themselves from their peer group and avoid social situations that involve taking off their shirt like sports of beach activities.

Man boobs can also be the result of a side effect from prescription medications, or from drug and alcohol abuse (marijuana, methamphetamines and beer are big ones) as well as diseases that can have man boobs as symptoms like certain cancers and liver disease.

One source of man boobs has been causing somewhat of an epidemic and creates man boobs that are far more persistent and permanent, sometime leaving surgery as the only option to remove the male breasts. Anabolic steroid use is a major and increasing cause of gynecomastia. Man boobs from steroids develop much faster and more noticeably than man boobs from natural hormonal imbalances because steroid use has such a heavy impact on your hormone levels. Man boobs that are resultant of steroid use are also more stubborn and if left untreated may actually develop into permanent tissue which can only really be removed by risky (not to mention hard on the hip pocket) male mamoplasty, which is not a great option for any man.

Developing breasts from steroid use is actually quite common. Steroids really disrupt the balance of testosterone and estrogen in the body, and this is why breasts develop. Steroids stop the body’s natural testosterone production and if a user doesn’t put testosterone back into the body after a cycle of steroids then estrogen will be rampant in the body and feminine hips and breasts will develop. Not really what a guy using steroids would want to look like, but that’s one of the many risks involved.

After ceasing steroid use it can still take quite a while for the body to start its testosterone production and in many cases even after hormones are back to normal the breast do budge. This is one of the biggest differences in steroid induced man boobs – they are notoriously hard to eliminate.

There is one very easy solution, and that is to stay right away from steroids, and if you think about the other associated risk like shrunken testicles, looking like a stocking stuffed with tennis balls and our lovely flabby boobs there are plenty of good reasons to do so. For those silly enough to persevere with steroid use there are estrogen blocking drugs that can help stop breast development. These are often used by body builders, however these drugs have not been fully studied, so there may well be other side effects of these blockers which will cause another unsightly syndrome.

There are plenty of ways to try and reduce man boobs, and if you have man boobs and have never used steroids then you are just months away from having a manly toned chest once more, because male breast are totally treatable given the right natural remedies and lifestyle and diet changes. If your man boobs are steroid induced still don’t rush into surgery that may not even cure the problem – it may take a bit more time but natural remedies can still cure your man boobs.

Maybe you enjoyed this article on How To Lose Man Boobs have a look at my site Guide To Getting Rid Of Man Boobs for lots of valuable information for you!