Pseudogynecomastia is male breast enlargement that is caused by the accumulation fat tissue and not the development of male breast glands. This condition is seen in men who may be slightly over-weight or extremely heavy. It can be difficult to determine gynecomastia from pseudogynecomastia since they both can look the same.

There is no medical reason or disease process that causes pseudogynecomastia, but gynecomastia has well-established causes. Some of the more common reasons are puberty with the imbalance of hormones, drugs such as anabolic steroids, an underlying medical condition or even recreational drugs.

The treatment for pseudogynecomastia is diet and exercise for weight loss. This is Dr. Delgado’s first recommendation for treatment. This is often very difficult for some men, but this will reduce the breast size. Sometimes this cannot be corrected with diet and exercise alone. In these cases surgery may be required. Men with this condition also will usually have increased fat deposits around the abdomen and flanks. The diet and exercise will affect all areas.

The surgical treatment of psudogynecomastia can be liposuction alone. This can be a very effective treatment with great patient satisfaction. The issues which make it more difficult is skin laxity or breast ptosis from aging, weight loss, or lose of muscle mass. Liposuction will not address this issue and a mastopexy or other skin lifting procedure is required.