Lots of nasty things happen as we get older. We lose hair, what hair we have goes gray, we forget things, we experience trouble keeping certain parts of our bodies interested in certain activities... and even worse than all of these, we get man boobs.

It may sound like a playground joke, but men who have abnormally large breasts certainly wouldn't be laughing. The truth is that many men suffer from Man Boob Syndrome (note: not a scientific term!) and lots of those men seek male breast reduction plastic surgery.

Gynecomastia - Not A Pretty Name

It's not actually called Man Boob Syndrome, but something that doesn't sound nearly as funny: gynecomastia. Gynecomastia refers to a condition where a man has some kind of growth in one or two of his breasts.

The term is Greek for "breasts like a woman," but it is usually not that severe. Gynecomastia is, however, very common, affecting almost half of all men at some time in their lives. It has no major negative health effects, but in severe cases, it can be embarrassing.

No one knows what causes gynecomastia, although there are some known contributing factors. Chief among these is genetics.