Moobs and Surgical Treatment



Posted: Monday, January 25, 2010

by Dave Stringham
LookingYourBest.com

While this debate about man boobs or boobs sounds purely rhetorical, it has profound implications for patients, cosmetic surgeons, and insurance companies. But let¹s focus on the patient.

Obviously, if surgery for male breasts were considered reconstructive, then insurance companies would pay for it. Women with large breasts get breast reductions paid for by insurance. So why shouldn't men with breasts also have their breast reductions paid for by insurance?

It is because the reason insurance pays for female breast reduction surgery is that many of these women have certain bothersome symptoms, such neck/back pain, rashes under the breasts, and grooving from their bras. So it is covered not just because the woman has overly large breasts per se, but because of the symptoms the large breasts cause.

Fortunately or unfortunately- it depends upon how you look at it ¬ there are no such symptoms from oversized male breasts. But it doesn't mean that these men do not suffer more than woman with large breasts do.

With the exception of some very rare cases, there is no equivalent problem to the neck and back pain of a woman with large breasts. The man suffers on the inside, humiliated and embarrassaed. While large breasts on a woman cause undeniable physical pain, at least they are one of the quintessential signs of womanliness.

And that is exactly why gynecomastia - oversized male breasts is so distressing to a man. Because they are so very much the hallmark of a woman's body, they are anathema to any man. A flat and firm chest is as much a part of an ideal man's body as shapely breasts are part of an ideal woman's body.

In my opinion, insurance should cover male breast reduction. While gynecomastia surgery is purely cosmetic in the sense that there is no functional component to it, it is also true that another definition of cosmetic surgery is to improve the normal. While many men do develop male breasts, it is by definition not normal, and therefore having gynecomastia surgery should be considered reconstructive, and hence paid for by insurance.

Well, enough fantasizing. Insurers do not see it that way. And with changes looming on the horizon for medical care in the United States, there is no reason to believe that gynecomastia surgery will be paid for by insurance companies or the government. I only wish more men realized how common gynecomastia is. Perhaps they would be less embarrassed. Or how relatively simple the surgery is to correct gynecomastia. It may sound expensive, but the cost is actually reasonable when judged over the many years of outstanding improvement gynecomastia surgery brings to a man¹s life. That is why it is now one of the fastest growing cosmetic surgery procedure in the United States.

Fortunately, there are many resources available to those that are in need of surgery on the web that are looking into surgery for man boobs.

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Dave Stringham, the President of LookingYourBest.com writes about plastic surgery procedures like gynecomastia surgery, breast reduction for men and other cosmetic and reconstructive procedures. He offers a directory of plastic surgeons across the US
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