Latest ‘Real Housewives’ breast surgery

Because of steroid use, Tamra Barney’s son needed plastic surgery to remove growths in his breasts.

Photo: Tamra Barney gives her son a kiss before surgery. (Photo courtesy of Bravo)
Slide show: “Solution for big-breasted man” in multi-part slide show

LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON

The reality TV show “Real Housewives of Orange County” moved into new surgical territory during Monday’s end-of-season special.

The focus in the operating room was on one of the Top 4 types of plastic surgeries — for men.

Ryan, the 25-year-old son of “Real Housewife” Tamra Barney, underwent surgery to correct his gynecomastia, excessive growth of breast tissue in men.

Steroids can cause men’s breasts to grow, which was apparently the source of Ryan’s problem. On the show, he said he had used steroids to bulk up in his late teens.

Ryan's enlarged breast before surgery / Photo courtesy of Bravo (Click photo for slide show.)

During the show, Barney said she felt guilty that Ryan had taken steroids. She added that Ryan’s father, Darren, “shares the guilt,” because he had used steroids as a young man, which Ryan knew.

His plastic surgeon, Dr. Milind Ambe of Newport Beach, said about the show:

The obvious lesson to be learned from this episode … is that steroid use and abuse can lead to a lot of long-lasting, permanent problems for males — not only the development of enlarged breasts, but also male-pattern baldness and testicular atrophy, not to mention mood changes while actively using.

The surgery was “fairly challenging,” Ambe said, because he needed to cut into each breast to remove hardened tissue, which could not be sucked out by liposuction. Laboratory testing showed that the removed growths were not malignant.

Ambe said Ryan’s father not only used steroids as a young man but also developed the same problem and needed the same surgery.

Tamra Barney / Photo courtesy of Bravo (Click photo for slide show.)

On average, men’s breast-reduction surgery costs $5,500, according to the cosmetic-medicine website RealSelf.com. Last year, an estimated 18,000 such operations were performed in the United States, according to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, based in Garden Grove.

Is the procedure worth it? Among patients responding an online survey by RealSelf.com, 65 percent said yes.

Plastic surgeon Dr. Michael Niccole says he is being “inundated” with men seeking breast surgery. Some undergo breast-reduction surgery, such as Ryan’s, while others want breast implants that make them look more muscular.

“Men seeking breast augmentation is a relatively newer phenomenon and is performed in much the same manner as breast implant surgery for women,” Niccole said. “This procedure is especially desirable for those who workout regularly, but can’t seem to develop their chest muscles.”

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