Surgical management of gynecomastia: choice and outcome

Abstract

Background Gynecomastia is defined as a male breast benign condition that is characterized by enlargement of the breast owing to glandular tissue proliferation. The cause of gynecomastia includes an imbalance between estrogen and testosterone levels in male breast tissue. The primary mechanism is production of more estrogen, reduction of production of androgen, and increased peripheral conversion to estrogen from estrogen precursors. Patients and methods A total of 35 male patients who presented with unilateral or bilateral gynecomastia (63 breasts) in the duration between June 2014 and June 2017 were assessed and surgically treated. All our patients were healthy except for one patient who had liver cirrhosis and two diabetic patients. Different surgical procedures were used to remove the excess skin and glandular tissue including lateral circumareolar incision, round block technique, reduction mammoplasty, liposuction, or combination of these procedures. Results The commonest procedure used was round block technique. A total of four cases had complications in the form of hematoma in one case, seroma in one case, skin infection in one case, and skin necrosis in another case. Conclusion Surgical correction of gynecomastia is the only hope for correction of gynecomastia in symptomatic patients.