Gynecomastia :: science

Gynecomastia Definition Gynecomastia is a common complaint of the male front where there is a benign glandular refinement of that breast at some time in the males life. It normally consists of the behavior of a flat pad of glandular tissue beneath a nipple which becomes tender at the same time. The development may be unilateral or bilateral. thither is rarely a continued step-up of the breast tissue ordinarily the process is of brief du balancen and bread short of the production of permanent enlargement of the breast. Causes A great act of patients who suffer from this disease have a disturbance in the decorous ratio of androgen and estrogen levels. The normal ratio of the two hormones in plasma is approximately 1001. The etiology of gynecomastia in patients with a cognise documented cause appears to be related to increased estrogen stimulation, diminish testosterone levels, or some alteration of the estrogens and androgen so that the androgen-estrogen ratio is change magn itude(Williams 373). From this information it was discovered that there is also a lower ratio of weaker adrenal androgens (delta 4-androstenedione and dehydroepiandrosterone) found in youths with this disease. It was once believed that there was an imbalance in the ratios of testosterone to estrogen or estradiol, but this is now know to be untrue. There are three areas the can be attributed to the cause of gynecomastia physical, ghoulish and pharmacologic. outburst of the male breast can be a normal physiologic phenomenon at certain stages of life or the result of several pathologic states.(Isselbacher, 2037) In the case of physiologic gynecomastia the disease can occur in a newborn baby, at puberty or at whatsoever time in a mans life. In the newborn, transient enlargement of the breast is due to the action of maternal and/or placental estrogens. The enlargement usually disappears within a few weeks. Adolescent gynecomastia is common during puberty with the invasion at the medi an age of 14. It is often asymmetrical and frequently tender. It regresses so that by the age of 20 only a small tally of men have palpable vestiges of gynecomastia in one or twain the breasts. Gynecomastia of aging also occurs in otherwise healthy men. Forty pct or more of aged men have gynecomastia. One translation is the increase in age in the conversion of androgens to estrogens in extra- glandular tissues. Drug therapy and abnormal liver functioning can also be causes of gynecomastia in older men.