Who is a Good Candidate for Male Breast Reduction

Those who are not affected by having “man boobs” (larger breasts than typically), do not realize how much emotional distress this can cause a man. Most of the men that I see in my office for this reason refuse to take off their shirts in public, even when they are at the pool or beach. I am a sun-loving plastic surgeon, so I can certainly imagine how miserable this could be!

Most of the men that I see for this procedure have fullness in their breast area, but overall their breast shape is good. It is just larger and fuller than they desire. For these men, I can do their male breast reduction in the operating room with just an incision that only goes along the bottom half of their areola. They go home the same day and can usually return to work in 4-5 days. They can shower the very next day. I usually place drains in the area for excess fluid, which will be removed in my office 5-7 days later.

If there is mostly fatty tissue, rather than fibrous tissue, as well as a good shape, I can perform either SculpSure or SmartLipo to decrease the fat in the chest area instead of a traditional gynecomastia procedure. This has the advantage of no incisions with Sculpsure (and only very tiny incisions with SmartLipo) and a return to work either the same day (with SculpSure) or the next day (with SmartLipo).

Men who have lost a great deal of weight sometimes have large hanging breasts, and their surgical repair is more complicated and involves larger incisions.  These are more challenging cases, but the men that feel they need this surgery are usually more than willing to accept the greater scarring involved in order to get a better breast shape.

Ultimately, a good candidate for a male breast reduction is a man who is realistic in his expectations and is troubled by the appearance of his breasts.