Male puberty and breast tissue

[Anonymous]

My 11 year old son came to me to say he has a lump under his nipple, and it’s sore. I checked, and he does. A hard lump about half the diameter of his (small, skinny boyish) areola. I Googled, and half of boys develop breast tissue during puberty. I’m trying to not worry about it, and I’ll take him to the ped soon, but wondered if what he is experiencing is in the range of typical. The websites seemed to indicate it was visible, and looks like man boobs. I have a skinny boy, and this is a lump of firm tissue right below the nipple so where I assume puberty hormone impacted tissue should be. Anyone been there done that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My 11 year old son came to me to say he has a lump under his nipple, and it’s sore. I checked, and he does. A hard lump about half the diameter of his (small, skinny boyish) areola. I Googled, and half of boys develop breast tissue during puberty. I’m trying to not worry about it, and I’ll take him to the ped soon, but wondered if what he is experiencing is in the range of typical. The websites seemed to indicate it was visible, and looks like man boobs. I have a skinny boy, and this is a lump of firm tissue right below the nipple so where I assume puberty hormone impacted tissue should be. Anyone been there done that?

I don't know anything about this, but I would treat the lump as if it were more alarming than a lump in a woman's breast.

My understanding is that breast cancer in men is much more aggressive than breast cancer in women.

I think you should go on the Health forum here and ask people there for ideas about how to proceed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 11 year old son came to me to say he has a lump under his nipple, and it’s sore. I checked, and he does. A hard lump about half the diameter of his (small, skinny boyish) areola. I Googled, and half of boys develop breast tissue during puberty. I’m trying to not worry about it, and I’ll take him to the ped soon, but wondered if what he is experiencing is in the range of typical. The websites seemed to indicate it was visible, and looks like man boobs. I have a skinny boy, and this is a lump of firm tissue right below the nipple so where I assume puberty hormone impacted tissue should be. Anyone been there done that?

I don't know anything about this, but I would treat the lump as if it were more alarming than a lump in a woman's breast.

My understanding is that breast cancer in men is much more aggressive than breast cancer in women.

I think you should go on the Health forum here and ask people there for ideas about how to proceed.

I think she should go to the doctor! It's almost certainly no big deal but there's a chance it IS a big deal. So go to the doctor. This doesn't sound at all like breast tissue.

[Anonymous]

Visit the doctor. The enlarged breast tissue that boys can develop is probably not what you're seeing based on your description. It's an overall enlargement of the breast area (gynecomastia), rather than a defined hard lump. Your son may have a small lipoma or something else.

This may be helpful:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3706045/

[Anonymous]

I developed gynecomastia when I was in puberty. It was a real drag because other boys bullied me about them. I don't know if that still happens, but I wouldn't be surprised if it did.

The other thing I would watch for is low testosterone levels. I learned later in life that I had low T, but I suspect that was also true in my teens. You probably wouldn't want to put him on TRT until he is much older, but I would certainly have the pediatrician check his T levels at least once a year. Insist on this, because the pediatrician will most likely be dismissive.

[Anonymous]

My 13 year old came to me about a year ago with the same thing...small rubbery lumps underneath the nipple that were kinda sore. He has them on both sides, so I’m not worried about tumors. Google says it’s a normal part of puberty in boys, and is similar to when girls develop breast buds. Rarely, a boy can develop excessive breast tissue and it could require surgery. I honestly haven’t worried about them since, and had literally forgotten until I read this.

[Anonymous]

Yes, go to the dr as you are planning to but if he is showing other signs of puberty this is likely very normal. Boys can develop breast buds in puberty just as girls do. (And what you describe does sound like a bread bud.)

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks, folks. It is the rubbery lump that pp also describes. Maybe we’ll just do his annual exam a little early. I don’t want to freak my son out or make him worry that if he tells me about normal puberty body worries I’ll haul him off to the doctor. But I’ll take him soon.

My son just had a body-changes-in-puberty-what-to-expect class at school and this wasn’t mentioned. I’d never heard of it and neither had my husband...but 50 percent of boys get it. Poor dudes, can you imagine worrying you are growing breasts or have cancer and not knowing it is normal? And no one tells you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks, folks. It is the rubbery lump that pp also describes. Maybe we’ll just do his annual exam a little early. I don’t want to freak my son out or make him worry that if he tells me about normal puberty body worries I’ll haul him off to the doctor. But I’ll take him soon.

My son just had a body-changes-in-puberty-what-to-expect class at school and this wasn’t mentioned. I’d never heard of it and neither had my husband...but 50 percent of boys get it. Poor dudes, can you imagine worrying you are growing breasts or have cancer and not knowing it is normal? And no one tells you?

I think that is reasonable. The other poster carrying on about breast cancer is a little nutso. He doesn't have breast cancer. Probably nothing but also good for him to learn that when he feels something weird, it is often best to just get it looked at.

[Anonymous]

I had this during puberty. Quarter sized lumps under each nipple - slightly sensitive to the touch. I learned at the time that it was normal. Never really talked about to anyone, however.

[Anonymous]

This is totally normal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks, folks. It is the rubbery lump that pp also describes. Maybe we’ll just do his annual exam a little early. I don’t want to freak my son out or make him worry that if he tells me about normal puberty body worries I’ll haul him off to the doctor. But I’ll take him soon.

My son just had a body-changes-in-puberty-what-to-expect class at school and this wasn’t mentioned. I’d never heard of it and neither had my husband...but 50 percent of boys get it. Poor dudes, can you imagine worrying you are growing breasts or have cancer and not knowing it is normal? And no one tells you?

Pp here with a 13 year old with the same issue.

I’m glad they don’t tell them every little thing. They have enough to worry about. Just tell your kid it’s normal. Call the doc and leave a message asking if she can discretely check it out at his next well visit without making it seem like something is “wrong.” We do this with sensitive stuff all the time. My dd has very different sized breasts, so I left a message for the Doc to make a note of it at the next exam, but not to mention it if what she sees isn’t a concern because I don’t want to make dd self conscious about something she isn’t.