Noticing gyno (gynecomastia) development after 2 years on oral DHT blockers

[giegnosiganoe]

I've been taking oral DHT blockers for 2.5 years. Finasteride for the first 6 months, and then switched to dutasteride for the past 2 years, both at the regular dosage. Unfortunately in the past few months I've noticed the development of gynecomastia. I wasn't sure at first, but it has now become pretty obvious, grade 1 gyno with a lump under the areola (along with slight nipple sensitivity/more visibility through shirts). It seems to be getting worse at an increasing speed as well, especially over the past few weeks. It amazes me that it took this long (2 years) to actually notice it developing, but I guess the effect has been cumulative.

Before anyone asks, I'm in good shape, lean and muscular (6 ft 190 lbs), and have been going to the gym almost daily for the past 8 months (slow clean bulk up from 175 lbs + creatine).

I'm at a loss for what to do. Hair is very important to me, so I need to be on some form of DHT blocking treatment. I could potentially try topicals, but they're a pain in the ***. I'm also not sure whether switching to topicals/getting off the orals would do anything to reverse the gyno, so I haven't been in a rush to get off. I know there are things like SERMs as well but I have a hard time believing it could do anything now that the tissue has already developed. I'd be fine with just getting surgery, but I'm worried that the gyno would grow back, or that if they remove too much of the gland that I may end up with a "caved in" appearance.

I did see a physician about this and they ordered some hormonal blood tests, here are the results if anyone is interested. Seems like estrogen/estradiol/SHBG are on the higher end of the reference range. I'll be seeing the Doctor tomorrow to discuss the results, and hopefully get a referral to a specialist.

Test	Result	Reference range
ESTROGEN, TOTAL, SERUM	173.5 pg/mL	60 - 190 pg/mL
PROLACTIN	8.6 ng/mL	2.0 - 18.0 ng/mL
ESTRADIOL	36 pg/mL	< OR = 39 pg/mL
ALBUMIN	4.4 g/dL	3.6 - 5.1 g/dL
SEX HORMONE BINDING GLOBULIN	43 nmol/L	10 - 50 nmol/L
TESTOSTERONE, FREE	84.2 pg/mL	46.0 - 224.0 pg/mL
TESTOSTERONE, BIOAVAILABLE	169.5 ng/dL	110.0 - 575.0 ng/dL
TESTOSTERONE, TOTAL, MS	730 ng/dL	250 - 1100 ng/dL

Would appreciate any input, especially from those with a similar experience.

 

[Pacho]

you probably should stop taking it and make an appointment with a surgeon to remove the gyno

 

[MrSnow]

I've been taking oral DHT blockers for 2.5 years. Finasteride for the first 6 months, and then switched to dutasteride for the past 2 years, both at the regular dosage. Unfortunately in the past few months I've noticed the development of gynecomastia. I wasn't sure at first, but it has now become pretty obvious, grade 1 gyno with a lump under the areola (along with slight nipple sensitivity/more visibility through shirts). It seems to be getting worse at an increasing speed as well, especially over the past few weeks. It amazes me that it took this long (2 years) to actually notice it developing, but I guess the effect has been cumulative.

Before anyone asks, I'm in good shape, lean and muscular (6 ft 190 lbs), and have been going to the gym almost daily for the past 8 months (slow clean bulk up from 175 lbs + creatine).

I'm at a loss for what to do. Hair is very important to me, so I need to be on some form of DHT blocking treatment. I could potentially try topicals, but they're a pain in the ***. I'm also not sure whether switching to topicals/getting off the orals would do anything to reverse the gyno, so I haven't been in a rush to get off. I know there are things like SERMs as well but I have a hard time believing it could do anything now that the tissue has already developed. I'd be fine with just getting surgery, but I'm worried that the gyno would grow back, or that if they remove too much of the gland that I may end up with a "caved in" appearance.

I did see a physician about this and they ordered some hormonal blood tests, here are the results if anyone is interested. Seems like estrogen/estradiol/SHBG are on the higher end of the reference range. I'll be seeing the Doctor tomorrow to discuss the results, and hopefully get a referral to a specialist.

Test	Result	Reference range
ESTROGEN, TOTAL, SERUM	173.5 pg/mL	60 - 190 pg/mL
PROLACTIN	8.6 ng/mL	2.0 - 18.0 ng/mL
ESTRADIOL	36 pg/mL	< OR = 39 pg/mL
ALBUMIN	4.4 g/dL	3.6 - 5.1 g/dL
SEX HORMONE BINDING GLOBULIN	43 nmol/L	10 - 50 nmol/L
TESTOSTERONE, FREE	84.2 pg/mL	46.0 - 224.0 pg/mL
TESTOSTERONE, BIOAVAILABLE	169.5 ng/dL	110.0 - 575.0 ng/dL
TESTOSTERONE, TOTAL, MS	730 ng/dL	250 - 1100 ng/dL

Would appreciate any input, especially from those with a similar experience.

your results are good ?

 

[jake_b]

Well I can tell you my story. Took finasteride for 2 years, developed actual gyno that didn’t go away even after I stopped finasteride, ended up having to get surgery to remove it.

Most guys can take finasteride without developing gyno and for that reason people will try to tell you it doesn’t happen (because it didn’t happen TO THEM). But for those few unlucky suckers like you and l, it’s real, it sucks, and you just have to pick your poison.

Fwiw gyno surgery necessarily leaves a small “normal” amount of breast tissue. All men have a small amount of breast tissue and without it, your nipples sink in to your chest. That also means if you continue using finasteride after surgery, you may very well develop gyno all over again.

 

[Jakejr]

If your getting breast development you can inject Kybella or knockoff in area to reduce fat accumulation. On nipples you can put a testosterone patch or cream.

 

[arnoldd]

I would say your gyno will shrink after you stop dutasteride, since its not long time you have developed it. The problem is that it will take long time. 6 months to dutasteride to get out of from your system + more months where the gland will atrophy gradually..

pd: stop taking creatine, it raise dht

 

[giegnosiganoe]

Well I can tell you my story. Took finasteride for 2 years, developed actual gyno that didn’t go away even after I stopped finasteride, ended up having to get surgery to remove it.

Most guys can take finasteride without developing gyno and for that reason people will try to tell you it doesn’t happen (because it didn’t happen TO THEM). But for those few unlucky suckers like you and l, it’s real, it sucks, and you just have to pick your poison.

Fwiw gyno surgery necessarily leaves a small “normal” amount of breast tissue. All men have a small amount of breast tissue and without it, your nipples sink in to your chest. That also means if you continue using finasteride after surgery, you may very well develop gyno all over again.

Thanks for replying, it's great to hear from someone in the same position. I have a lot of questions:

How long into taking finasteride did you develop gyno? Did you get any hormone tests done, and if so what were the results? How did surgery go? Did you consider alternative DHT blocking treatments? How is your hair doing since then?

 

[jake_b]

I had been taking finasteride for about 3-4 years at the point that I really couldn't deny the gyno. I was also getting mental and sexual sides at the time which I was power through for the sake of hair, but the gyno was the final straw. I quit for about 2 years hoping the gyno would go away before I saw a doctor about it. My hormones were in normal range at the time but breast tissue doesn't go away once it has grown. After surgery, I'd say my chest looks better than it did even before all this so for that I can't complain. My hair has slowly thinned over the years since. I haven't really found a good replacement for finasteride and I've really tried everything, even weird group buy's of gray market compounds on weird hairloss forums. These days I just do microneedling once a week, nizoral shampoo, and topical caffeine. Maybe it's slowing loss, can't tell.

 

[giegnosiganoe]

I had been taking finasteride for about 3-4 years at the point that I really couldn't deny the gyno. I was also getting mental and sexual sides at the time which I was power through for the sake of hair, but the gyno was the final straw. I quit for about 2 years hoping the gyno would go away before I saw a doctor about it. My hormones were in normal range at the time but breast tissue doesn't go away once it has grown. After surgery, I'd say my chest looks better than it did even before all this so for that I can't complain. My hair has slowly thinned over the years since. I haven't really found a good replacement for finasteride and I've really tried everything, even weird group buy's of gray market compounds on weird hairloss forums. These days I just do microneedling once a week, nizoral shampoo, and topical caffeine. Maybe it's slowing loss, can't tell.

Thanks for the info. Would you say there was no gyno for the first couple years? How was your body composition at the time? Have you ever considered topical DHT blockers, like finasteride/dutasteride/cb/ru?

 

[jake_b]

Thanks for the info. Would you say there was no gyno for the first couple years? How was your body composition at the time? Have you ever considered topical DHT blockers, like finasteride/dutasteride/cb/ru?

I think it probably was happening gradually, but I wasn't super slim at the time and it was hard to tell if any tissue was growing in the flabby areas. It wasn't until I could feel firm tissue in there that I realized something was up. Topical finasteride seemed promising but eventually it built up to systemic levels. I did CB for about 9 months, but I didn't get any benefit. RU kind of scares me with potential heart side effects, so I've never tried it. Wish I could!