Last night Iris and I were talking. She’s breast feeding right now and some times gets plugged ducts. She told me that usually if you had too many problems you needed to see your gynecologist.
Since it is possible for males to lactate we wondered what would happen if a man got a plugged duct. I don’t think many general doctors would know a great deal about such a situation, and Iris said she probably wouldn’t go to her normal doctor she’d goto the gyn.
So could a guy who got a plugged duct, or some other problem normally associated with lactation, be able to get an appointment with a gynecologist? Would his insurance pay for the visit? Or is this poor guy going to have to search out a doctor that can help him?
And for the record, no I’m not leaking any milk, the baby gives me dirty looks if I don’t have a shirt on since she knows I can’t feed her.
IANAD and am not even sure if this is a serious question or not. I wasn’t sure if doing a search for lactating breasts in men at work would pull up any ‘not-safe-for-work’ sites (naked pregnant women, etc.). But I would assume that any problem a man had with his breast or nipple would start out with a family doctor and would be followed up by a specialist of some sort, but not a gynecologist.
Gynecologists handle innies; Andologists handle outties. A man with a blocked duct would most likely go to see a hormone specialist, an endocrinologist. I for one keep and endo and an ando on speed dial. I’m a mess.
Yes, generally speaking, if a male is lactating (at least, if it’s not on purpose), then there’s a larger problem to deal with - usually hormonal or certain cancers. Thus, you would see an endocrinologist or oncologist, depending on the underlying cause.
There are a few reports of male lactation induced on purpose, through hormonal tweaking and/or simple nipple stimulation, and I suppose, if one WANTED to keep lactating, that a gynecologist is as good as anyone, and better than, say, a podiatrist. After all, plumbing is plumbing, and getting a milk clog out of male ducts shouldn’t really be different than getting it out of female ducts.
But we are discussing lactation of the breasts, correct? Maybe I am wrong but if a woman were having problems with her breasts and lactation, I don’t believe the FIRST medical professional they would call would be their gynecologist. Although they are still doctors and in some cases do serve as primary doctors (for some women and allowed by some insurances), it is not their primary means of expertise.
So getting a ‘milk clog out of male ducts’ would probably be a problem best served by someone other than the gynecologist.
Except that the question came up last night that some women would go there first, at least my wife did go there because they do handle plugged ducts and such.
If you look at the wiki page there is a link on the bottom to breast feeding men that is safe for work. It shows a topless guy holding a baby. Though the information doesn’t seem all that great.
The reason it came up is because Iris has a plugged duct, and we had seen the information on men breast feeding, and I wondered aloud what would happen if a man was breast feeding and got a plugged duct, who would he see?
I think you’re wrong, honestly. Often, a woman’s primary care provider IS her gynecologist - most insurances now cover them as such, and a gynecologist can make the HMO-required referral to any other specialists. Besides which, if a woman’s lactating, it’s a good bet that the most recent doc she’s seen is her gynecologist, who has also recently done breast exams along with pelvic (a breast exam is part of the yearly checkup your gyn provides, along with pelvic and PAP, and it’s also done during pregnancy to make sure things are developing correctly) and probably the delivery of her baby. It’s only natural to think of calling him when you run into titty trouble.
Maybe I should revise it to say that I, along with most people I know personally, as well as the OP’s wife, would indeed first call the gynecologist for recurring milk duct impaction or other physical breast feeding issues. The first person I’d call for a one-time clog would probably be a lactation consultant, but she’s not licensed to do an actual extraction, and I’d call my gynecologist for a recurring problem.
My biggest boob problem with my first was thrush (yeast) in my baby’s mouth and in my nipple and ducts. It was indeed my gynecologist that I called, and he gave me instructions on what to do about it.
For Og’s sake, if you’re a guy and you are having nipple discharge, go see your Internist or Family Physician!
This is not an uncommon problem. I deal with 3 or 4 cases a year, and I know what to do with them, and when to refer (which I have had to do with only 2 cases in the last 5 years).
If you’re a gal who’s not pregnant, the advice is the same. Tho your Gyn can handle this easily, too.
And I know Gyn docs who moonlight in the ER, or in STD clinics. So many guys have probably been seen by gynecologists for their medical problems, without knowing it.
I think you missed the point a bit. I was asking not about discharge, but if a man wished to breast feed, which maybe possible. At some point that person gets a plugged duct, or mastitis. Would you know how to deal with that? I would think in such a case it would be best to go to someone who does know what to do and not hope that I would get bounced around to a couple of doctors.
I’m pretty sure if I went to my primary doctor and told him that I thought I had a plugged duct he would think I was out of my mind.
I did not miss your point at all. Internists and Family Physicians are well versed in diseases of the breast, male and female. I’ve treated breast lumps, bumps, inflammations, pains, discharges, asymmetry, and so forth in both genders for over two decades. I diagnosed my most recent case of male breast cancer less than a year ago.
A gynecologist is simply a regular MD or DO with a specialty generally in ob/gyn…Since he is first a Dr. first he certainly could see a male if he so desired…generally they see women only.
I am a retired ob/gyn…during my 39 year career, I occasionly saw a male who made an appt. to see me to talk about infertility…problems with his wife or girl friend getting pregnant…He often wanted a sperm analysis to see what he played.
On rare occasion, a guy made an appt. for a sperm analysis as his very orthodox Iranian family told their daughter could not marry her fiance unless he had a normal sperm count.
The leakage of milk from male breasts, however, is best referred to an endocrinologist.
I’m more than able to order a prolactin level, and if sufficiently elevated, get an MRI and see if there’s a tumor, and refer to a neurosurgeon if there is. Along with doing the other differential diagnosis pathways that should be considered in the initial evaluation.
Sorry, I didn’t mean to come off as snarky. That should read: “I did not miss your point at all. As I should have said in my first post, Internists and Family Physicians are well versed in diseases of the breast, male and female”.
No, not snarky at all. Mostly I was wondering because in my experience, most doctors just pawn me off on someone else if they don’t know what to do. I didn’t know that deseases of the breast would be done by a normal doctor. And now I’ve learned that some guys do see gynecologists.
This is true. However, in my area where I practiced in the San Fernando Valley in So. Cal, Specialists ooze out of every block and are so plentiful…They often will repeat the bld tests and other tests that the primary physician or internist obtained. Also if we step too far out of our field, the super specialists will oftern stop referring to the primary physician whether he is a GP, or a gynecologist.
I feel comfortable that you would certainly be able to handle this type of problem and this is Not sarcasm.