Although men do not have the same type of breasts as do women, men do have a small amount of breast tissue. In fact, the "breasts" of an adult man are similar to the breasts of a girl before puberty, consisting of a few ducts surrounded by breast tissue and other tissue. In girls, this breast tissue grows and develops in response to female hormones. In men, who do not secrete the same amounts of these hormones, this tissue does not develop fully.
Because men have some breast tissue, men can develop breast cancer. Men get the same types of breast cancers that women do, although cancers involving the milk-producing and storing regions of the breast are very rare in men. |
