Last updated on September 10, 2020
Question:
I have huge poked-out nipples. Since last year they have been like that! I have looked at the Tanner scale and I have a dark ring around my nipples. My question is: When will they go away?
p.s. There seems to be a hard like substance underneath, like small stones.
Answer:
It is almost always a temporary condition. What happens is that during the early stages of adolescence, your body produces a large quantity of a large number of hormones to stimulate growth. But it takes a bit for the body to stabilize the amounts needed. Among the hormones, boys produce some female hormones, and girls produce some male hormones. The amounts are small. But when things are in flux, the balance can be thrown temporarily. Boys will produce what looks like breast buds, where fat is deposited underneath the nipples. It usually happens in stage 2 of development. As the boy slims down during his rapid growth period, this extra fat is used up and the chest flattens back out. If a boy stays overweight the extra fat also remains.
For a few men, deposits don’t go away, even though they slim down. Doctors call this condition gynecomastia. Typically in these cases, more than just fat develops. Sometimes the area around the nipples develops. These may require minor surgery to remove the excess structures that had formed.
If the hard lumps are right under your nipples and are tender when pressed, then these are nodules that usually go away in about a year. They are a part of the fluctuating hormones. But any lumps should be checked by a doctor just in case, especially if the lumps change over time, so the next time you have a check-up, mention them to him. Most likely he’ll say they are nothing.
What do you do in the meantime? You either ignore them or wear a tee-shirt or sleeveless tee-shirt underneath to make them less distinct until they go away.