Expert: Claes-Gustaf Nordquist, M.D. - 1/2/2009

Question
hello, this is a sort of strange question, but i am a 18 year old male and i am a bit over weight, for a while i have felt what i believe to be a lump in my left breast, the left breast feels different from the right one, the right breast feels like more solid i guess is the best way to describe it as where the left breast feels sort of squishy or like soft except for the lump i mentioned. the only time i can feel this lump is when cupping my breast and squeezing with my fingers i have laid flat on my back and it flattens my breasts a bit and i can not feel it in that position, so i was wondering if this could be some kind of tumor or maybe just a difference in  the breasts, also i was wondering if having breast cancer causes you to gain weight and or make it difficult to loose weight, oh and one last thing, i have often felt a pulsation or movement in my chest, sort of like a spasm and i went to the hospital about this and they thought it was heart palpitations, but they say my heart is fine , i feel it often and it is located what feels to be directly behind the left breast im no doctor but isn't the heart located more towards the center of the body? would i feel a heart palpitation behind the left breast?  but the question i am getting at is could this be related to the lump i feel? do tumors pulsate?

Answer
You are a male and only 18. So your risk of a breast cancer is truly very microscopically small! You may have a case of gynecomastia, which is not unheard of in young males. Let a surgeon check you! It is not dangerous. The heart is in the center but also normally slightly to the left so you can feel the heart beat on your left side. That has anyway nothing to do with your breast condition. It is the opposite way around. gynecomastia is more common in overweight males.