Virginal Hypetrophy

Woman's Diagnostic Cyber Disease Profile

Name
Synonyms	menarchal hypertrophy of the breast adolescent hypertrophy of the breast hypertrophy of the breast(s) - menarchal
General description	This is a condition where the breasts enlarge excessively at the time of adolescence when breasts normally become sensitive to estrogen.
Is it common?	rare
Differentiating features	enlargement is bilateral, and excessive although each breast is not necessarily equal in size
Other features	breast pain due to weight of breasts
Cause	unknown, although probably some sort of excessive sensitivity of breast tissue to estrogen
Unnecessary studies	mammography
Natural history untreated	breasts remain enlarged and cause back and chest muscle pains
Goals of therapy (Rx)	to restore patient's self image and relieve pain
1st choice therapy	support bra
Other therapies used	surgical - reduction mammoplasty - excision of a large part of breast. Usually plastic surgery is not approved for this unless at least 150 grams of tissue per breast needs to be removed.
Treatments to avoid	exogenous estrogen therapy may continue to stimulate breasts
Reason for Rx choices	not known to be reduceable by any non-surgical therapy