Is gynecomastia surgery a reconstructive procedure

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

Obviously, if gynecomastia surgery were considered reconstructive, then an insurance
company would be obliged to 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 objective symptoms from male breast enlargement. 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,
embarrassed and humiliated. 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 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 and will 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 the fastest growing cosmetic
surgery procedure in the United States.

Fortunately, there are many excellent resources available to men on the internet that
are looking into gynecomastia.