Are you a man who spends too much time inspecting the nipple that’s bigger than the other?
Or perhaps you see it as one nipple being smaller than the other.
Either way, many men spend good time before the mirror trying to figure out why their nipples are uneven, and if this might mean something sinister such as breast cancer.
• Each year in the United States, about 2,550 men are diagnosed with breast cancer, says the American Cancer Society.
• And each year in the U.S., 480 men (not all out of the ones diagnosed) will die from breast cancer.
• The lifetime risk of a man developing breast cancer is one in 1,000.
So what’s going on when a man’s nipples are uneven, asymmetrical, or “one is bigger than the other”?
“The body is not symmetrical,” begins Susan L. Besser, MD, with Mercy Medical Center, Baltimore, and Diplomate American Board of Obesity Medicine and board certified by the American Board of Family Medicine.
Dr. Besser explains, “There are differences in sizes of all body parts that are duplicated (hands, feet, nipples, eyes, anything that there are two of).
“The nipple difference is probably more noticed in men, because they have a flat chest, so there is no ‘distortion’ from breast tissue.
“But ask any woman, they will tell you their breasts aren’t identical either.”
In short, unevenly sized nipples in a man are just as benign as one ear being bigger than the other or one nostril being smaller than the other.
Dr. Besser provides comprehensive family care, treating common and acute primary conditions like diabetes and hypertension. Her ongoing approach allows her the opportunity to provide accurate and critical diagnoses of more complex conditions and disorders.
Lorra Garrick has been covering medical, fitness and cybersecurity topics for many years, having written thousands of articles for print magazines and websites, including as a ghostwriter. She’s also a former ACE-certified personal trainer.
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