Breast reduction popular among men

Statistics show that nearly 14,000 males had breast reductions in 2006. This speaks a lot of how men are treating their man-boobs problem very seriously.

At first glance, breast reduction and boys don’t quite seem to go together but reality says that thousands of men go to plastic surgeons to reduce the size of their breasts.

It is a general notion that older men are the ones going under the knife to address their gynecomastia problems. However, younger men in their early twenties also have the same complain.

Alex Rees, 22 years old, has been tormented by his enlarged breasts in his adolescence. He was shied away by friends because of his large breasts.

"Changing in the locker room, I'd always be trying to hide in the corner. I wouldn't feel comfortable maybe going swimming or just really taking shirts off," Rees says of his condition.

Gynecomastia actually affects 40 to 60 percent of men at some point in their lifetime. It can start during puberty and sometimes it will regress, but very often it persists through adulthood. Men can opt to use compression garments to flatten out the breasts, but many young men like Rees are turning to plastic surgery to eliminate the problem.

"A lot of people hear about breast reductions and I think they think of it as something you do when you're vain," says Dr. Arthur Caplan, a medical ethicist.

"If you're really getting harassed, if your self image is in trouble because you think, 'Gosh I'm a freak,' that's a perfectly good reason to do some cosmetic surgery," says Caplan.

Reese decided to undergo breast reduction surgery because he wants a better life for himself and bring back his self-esteem.