UK - 'Man boob' ops on the increase - Due to weed, apparently!

[MrG]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/he...00/7757929.stm

One of the UK's top doctors says he's seen a big rise in the number of men having breast reduction surgery.


Gynaecomastia, commonly known as man boobs or 'moobs', is a medical condition that causes tissue in the chest area to develop like a female breast.
There's usually no clear cause but doctors say sometimes men get it because of hormonal problems in the body - having more of the female hormone oestrogen than normal.
Men who are very overweight and use drugs like cannabis are also more likely to suffer from it.
One sufferer told Newsbeat: "Whenever I took my T-shirt off I had a proper set of boobs. They were massive, they were noticeable from every angle. I definitely would have passed for a woman.

"I wouldn't have gone swimming - not a chance. Going on a foreign holiday, I wouldn't have taken my top off until I was on my own. I was very self-conscious, very embarrassed.
"It was always on my mind. I would always have my arms folded or a big jumper on, something just to hide my chest."
Even though losing weight can help the problem, some men find that surgery is the only method to get rid of the problem permanently.

It also affects their confidence and their self esteem and they tend to adjust their social lives and fashion accordingly

Consultant Plastic Surgeon Raj Ragoowansi

Recent figures from The British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons show that last year the number of men having the operations went up by more than a quarter compared to 2006.
Raj Ragoowansi is a consultant plastic surgeon at St Bartholomew's Hospital in east London.
He says he's seen a big increase in the number of men with the condition asking for surgery in the last three months.
Common condition
He added: "This becomes a particular embarrassment for that person and they either become reclusive or shy.
"It also affects their confidence and their self esteem and they tend to adjust their social lives and fashion accordingly.
"This is a problem which should be taken very seriously."
But some doctors say having the surgery isn't necessary because it's a common condition - it's thought 50% of men get it.
Overall, male cosmetic surgery is increasing. Last year it went up by 17.5% on the previous year. The five most popular types of surgery for men are nose jobs, liposuction, eyelid operations, ear corrections, face and neck lifts.

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WTF? How do you get to throw in a bizarre statement like that with *no* reference to support it whatsoever?!!!!

[Junkhead23]

The BBC too!! They should hang heir head's in shame

[Mr. Giraffe]

That's superb.

Men who are very overweight have 'man breasts',

and

Men who are very overweight and smoke cannabis have 'man breasts'

and

We hate the damn hippies and their long, womanly hair and their goddamn feelings

and

They're not really men at all, and they have the titties to prove it.

[Dickon]

"It's thought 50% of men get it". So put me in a room with 10 men, and 5 of us will have moobs (or maybe once had moobs!) What size cup are we talking here to qualify? When is a breast not a breast? When it's a moob. The mind boggles. But, it's on the BBC so it MUST be true.

This clearly well-reseached statistic is making me laugh far more than the obviously true fact that it affects dope-smokers. Well, do the maths, about 50% (48% let's say) of men in England have smoked one joint. They are doomed to get moobs (love that word!) and the other 2% are the genuinely afflicted.

Of course we have no sympathy for drug users. No point giving them plastic surgery, they'll smoke another reefer and grow more moobs (if they haven't got shot by the police after going on a raping and murdering spree. I believe a film called "Reefer Madness" is the best factual resource available to describe marijuana use, although it does fail to mention the moobs. We clearly need a more up-to-date remake)

Maybe the increasing prevalence of moobs is because marijuana users keep more skunks as pets these days, and the skunk aroma promotes oestrogens in men. It's written on drugs-forum so it must be true.

50% of men have breasts! Ha ha. I bet global warming has something to do with it too.

D [laughing all the way to the kitchen]

[Nature Boy]

Bizarre that cannabis was mentioned. You would think it was just an accident, that some incompetent hack read off the wrong cue card but I've seen the BBC pull stunts like this before. Anyone remember the "cannabis killer"? The supposed cannabis addict who knifed two kids to death (despite not even being under the influence of cannabis at the time). Maybe we'll see more of this. Headline: In-grown toenails on the increase, sub-heading: Cannabis users most vulnerable.

[MrG]

My favourite 'story' is the one about the wild halucinations on GHB resulting in the extraction of teeth!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/2496527.stm The boyfriend pulled out her teeth when he saw his girlfriend's body being dressed in a clown's costume and a witch taking her away through a wall.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/2500497.stm No, she pulled them out herself to prevent "an illuminous green and pink fly" that had flown out from the wall from choking her to death.

All this because 'GHB is an anaesthetic which could result in hallucinations if taken in large doses.'

After all it is The paint stripper drug that kills MwaahaaahaahaaaAAAAA!!! (This article, fyi, is the one that finally pushed me into finding out wtf this stuff actually was!)

Complete and utter lies, fabrications, falsifications and/or simple bullshit. Take your pick.

Welcome to the wonderful world of "THE NEWS" !

Now you can have your 'Cake' and eat it too. (Chris Morris reference)

Reputation Comments on this post:

The paint stripper drug that kills - that article is a classic.

[snapper]

The only reference to this being a problem with cannabis is on the plastic surgeon's website quoted in this thread. Otherwise the gynecomastia myth was debunked long ago. However, using anabolic steroids can commonly trigger this problem as well as obesity and puberty.

[Jatelka]

Fascinating that cannabis is always drilled into you at medical school as a cause for gynaecomastia.

You know that there are only 9 citations in in the whole of pubmed on this? And all of it case reports

[Felix Guattari]

Just to put an end to any speculation to the contrary:

Effects of chronic marijuana use on testosterone, luteinizing hormone, follicle stimulating hormone, prolactin and cortisol in men and women.

Block RI, Farinpour R, Schlechte JA.


Department of Anesthesia, College of Medicine, University of Iowa, Iowa City 52242.
To investigate possible effects of chronic marijuana use on reproductive and stress hormones, we assayed testosterone, luteinizing hormone, follicle stimulating hormone, prolactin, and cortisol in 93 men and 56 women with a mean (+/- S.E.) age of 23.5 +/- 0.4 years. Hormone values were compared among groups of subjects stratified according to frequency of marijuana use (frequent, moderate and infrequent; N = 27, 18, and 30, respectively) and non-using controls (N = 74). Chronic marijuana use showed no significant effect on hormone concentrations in either men or women.



Serum testosterone concentrations in cannabis and opiate users

[Article in German]

Friedrich G, Nepita W, Andre T.

Institut fur Rechtsmedizin, Universitat Freiburg.

The object of this study was to establish possible influences of long-term cannabis usage on plasma testosterone levels. The plasma testosterone levels of 66 male Pakistani who for years had smoked cannabis daily or drank cannabis regularly where measured after chronic and acute intake of the drug and compared with a material of 41 normal controls, i.e. persons who did not use cannabis. An evaluation of the results showed that there were no significant differences between the two groups. No influence of long-term cannabis usage on plasma testosterone levels was found. Furthermore we wished to find out wether long-term heroin abuse showed an effect on plasma testosterone levels. The concentrations of testosterone in the plasma of 102 heroin addicts assigned to a Methadone Program were measured and compared with the values of 29 male healthy students as controls. Plasma testosterone levels were found to be significantly decreased in heroin addicts as compared to controls.


Of course this doesn't rule out the existence of a non-horomonal pathway of moobogenesis.

Reputation Comments on this post:

	Nice one fella.
	Thanks for posting this; cuts to the heart of the (nonsensical) issue!

[snapper]

Lower testosterone does not cause gynecomastia, higher estrogen or higher testosterone converted to estrogen by aromatase enzymes cause gynecomastia. So does being overweight or being genetically predisposed. Also, certain endocrine tumors (testicular) can do this.

[shivakiva2112]

I'm with betsym on the hormones thing; additionally, there are a lot of hormone-mimicking chemicals used today that have not been used in prior generations. Plastics, I think, affect estrogen receptors in some way.

I have a minor case of gyno and I hate it. Marijuana does not affect it, even after a 90 day hiatus there was no change in my gyno status.

I have been told by a doctor that it's normal and tends to go away on its own (as long as it's provoked by puberty).

[Jasim]

The statement is just kind of randomly thrown in there.