The Mammary Gland in the Normal Adolescent Male

Abstract

The mammary gland of the human male, though generally dismissed as vestigial, deserves more attention than it has received. Like its counterpart in the female, it is subject to both inflammatory and neoplastic disease. It occasionally increases to such a size that the resulting gynecomastia becomes a medical or surgical problem, and actual lactation has been reported repeatedly. 1 Although the phrase “mastitis adolescentium” occurs in the literature, 2 we have not found any data on the frequency of this condition nor on the behavior of the gland in the normal pubescent boy. Unpublished observations on 49 boys in southern Wisconsin convinced Jung that a certain degree of mammary hypertrophy must be a regular feature of normal pubescence. The present study of a larger series was undertaken partly for the purpose of testing the correctness of this conviction, and was made possible by the generous cooperation of the Department of Public Welfare of the State of Illinois.

One purpose, then, was to obtain data analysis of which would give a chronology of the mammary changes as compared with the other phenomena of puberty. Hence the following observations were made: date of birth; weight; height; bi-iliac diameter; color of hair; amount∗ of hair on the pubes, in the axillae, on the face (i. e., cheeks, upper lip, and chin), and on the chest; diameter of right areola; height of right nipple above surrounding skin; size∗ of the subareolar node on the right; height of left nipple above surrounding skin; size∗ of the subareolar node on the left; pitch of voice; sizes of right and left testicle. The quantities marked ∗ had to be, of necessity, graded in arbitrary units from 0 to ++++. The bi-iliac diameter was taken with an obstetrical caliper.