Do men have mammary glands? Underdeveloped organs of internal secretion in this area are present in representatives of the stronger sex. However, due to the lack of ability to produce milk, they are usually called the mammary glands.
The mammary gland in men is less prone to the development of pathologies. Nevertheless, diseases that affect the presented area are still found in medical practice.
Gynecomastia
The most common ailment that affects the mammary gland in men is gynecomastia. A disease is manifested by the appearance of benign seals in the ducts of the secretory paths. Moreover, the lack of timely diagnosis and proper treatment can lead to the development of a cancerous tumor. The only option in the latter case is the removal of the mammary glands in men.
Gynecomastia predominantly affects the body of adult men and more often has a genetic character. Since the disease is an atypical pathology for the stronger sex, it is usually detected at an advanced stage.
Gynecomastia Symptoms
The main sign that a man should pay attention to is the development of an acute pain syndrome, the localization of which depends on the clinical picture and the degree of development of the disease. Despite the benign nature of tumors, an increase in the mammary glands in men with gynecomastia is accompanied by swelling of the chest, the appearance of extensive reddened areas. Externally, the male chest becomes similar to the female as a result of sagging under the weight of the inflamed tissue.
In advanced stages, the appearance of bloody discharge from the nipples becomes the main symptom. The clinical picture is supplemented by the appearance of swollen areas in the armpits.
Gynecomastia Forms
There are several types of gynecomastia in men:
- Mondor's disease is an extremely rare manifestation of gynecomastia, the nature of which is not fully understood. The main symptom is the formation of so-called cords in the region of the mammary glands. The latter stretch all the way to the armpits. The cause of the development of the disease is a chest injury.
- Adenoma of the nipple. According to the symptoms, the disease is largely similar to breast cancer. The main sign of the development of this pathology is the formation of small nodules in the area of secretory pathways. If there is such a seal in the mammary gland in a man, therapy involves surgery.
- Fat necrosis is a serious form of gynecomastia. It develops as a result of injuries of small vessels that lie in the adipose tissue of the breast. The consequence of an insufficient supply of oxygen to tissues often becomes their extensive necrosis. If a pathology is detected, an immediate surgical operation is required.
Gynecomastia treatment in men
The elimination of pathology can occur both surgically and with the use of conservative methods of treatment.
If the inflamed mammary gland in men is detected in the early stages of the development of the disease, resort to drug therapy. The patient is credited with a complex of hormonal preparations, the intake of which allows normalizing the work of the endocrine glands.
In cases where this method does not give results, tumors in the chest area are removed by surgical intervention under local anesthesia. With timely response to the problem after surgery, repeated relapses do not occur.
Breast Cancer in Men
The occurrence of cancerous tumors in the area of the mammary glands of internal secretion is a rare case and affects less than 1% of men. Pathology most often develops in the stronger sex in old age. For this disease in men, unilateral localization of the affected tissue is characteristic.
Symptoms
Breast cancer in men manifests itself in the form of a painless compaction, which may have an unnatural location. In about 30% of cases, the aggravating consequence of the development of the tumor is the retraction or sagging of the nipple, less often - thickening of the skin and ulceration.
Diagnostics
To identify breast cancer in men allows the method of mammography examination. To distinguish pathology from gynecomastia, they also resort to ultrasound. The application of the latter solution makes it possible to determine the structure of a pathogenic neoplasm, to find out its potential danger. A specialist can get a complete picture of the disease by MRI and biopsy.
Treatment
Help with developing breast cancer in men is similar to treating the disease in women. The main approach is a combination of general and local methods of therapy. At the initial stages, specialists resort to radiation, hormonal and chemotherapeutic treatment. In the most advanced cases, a surgical mastectomy is performed, which involves the removal of the mammary glands in men.
Mastitis
The disease is an inflammation of the endocrine glands. The disease affects mainly the female body. However, manifestations of mastitis are also found in the male part of the population in old age. Most often, the disease develops in the stronger sex as a result of hormonal disruptions in the body, which causes the secretory glands to work with doubled activity. Sometimes the cause of the pathology is an infectious tissue lesion.
Symptoms
How is mastitis manifested? First of all, the mammary gland in men acquires atypical sensitivity. Later there is a fairly severe pain in the nipple. Over the area of inflammation, areas of reddened skin appear.
In the absence of therapy, a local and general increase in body temperature is observed. With an infectious form of the disease, tachycardia appears. All this may be accompanied by an excess of white blood cells in the blood.
Treatment
Therapy for mastitis involves taking antibiotics. As practice shows, medications of this plan eliminate the effects of infection on the body and alleviate the general condition within the first day.
It is also possible to treat mastitis in men using traditional medicine methods. Effectively eliminate the manifestations of the disease, compresses based on juice of Kalanchoe, aloe, carrots. Removing inflammation allows the application of broken leaves of plantain and cabbage to the edema area.
Finally
As you can see, diseases that affect the mammary glands of internal secretion in the stronger sex are rare. The main health hazard is the atypical nature of such pathologies for the male body. As a result, untimely diagnosis and treatment.