The Gynecomastia Pinch Test is a simple test that you can use to determine the composition of your breast tissue. You can use it to differentiate between true gynecomastia – tissue composed of glandular tissue – and pseudo-gynecomastia – tissue composed of fatty tissue.
The change in composition causes the pecs – short for pectoralis muscles – to take the shape of a female breast. And the shape is quite pronounced in the last two grades of gynecomastia.
How to Do a Gynecomastia Pinch Test
To perform the test, follow these steps:
- Stand in front of a mirror and look at your chest.
- Pinch the tissue between your thumb and fingers next to the areola.
If the tissue is mostly composed of glandular tissue, it will feel firm and may be slightly resistant to the pinch. On the other hand, if the tissue is mostly composed of fatty tissue, it will feel soft and easily pinched.
Gynecomastia Physical Exam
Gynecomastia can come in a variety of forms. Some men have excess fat, and others have pure glandular tissue. Some people have a combination of both.
The above image is an example of a person who has no extra fat in his chest at all, and it’s just that he has a little bit of glandular tissue.
He is skinny and muscular when you look at him, and there is no fat anywhere. So the bulge that he has is not related at all to fat, obviously not being overweight at all.
Now he was possibly taking supplements and working out hard. And probably as a side effect, they caused this growth.
When you feel the pecs, they feel quite firm, almost like a chicken egg. They may also be egg-shaped around the tip of the breast.
Pure Gynecomastia Pinch Test
When someone has pure gynecomastia in the firm area, it makes it very pointed. So, if you pinch yourself and feel soft and spongy all over, the gynecomastia has some fat component.
Glandular Gynecomastia Pinch Test
In this case, this is purely glandular because it was not spongy or soft. The relevance is that it’s just glandular. It’s certainly not going to get better with losing weight, and liposuction is not going to work because it only removes fat.
Surgically Treating Glandular Gynecomastia
Liposuction does not remove the glandular tissue. So, what a doctor can do in that case is to make a little incision from about four o’clock to 8 o’clock. And just remove excess glandular, which will make the pecs nice and flat.
