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I posted this on r/Army Figured I would throw it here as well, thank you for any feedback.
I've been in the Army for nearly two years now, my rank is E-4. Long story short I started developing gynecomastia in basic training and it keeps getting worse. It started with itchy nipples and now I've got close to golf ball sized lumps under both nipples. I'm not sure what the exact cause is but I didn't have this issue before enlisting (I enlisted at age 22). It's painful and embarrassing and I'm also worried about my health. About a month ago I woke up to a spot of blood on my shirt (over my left nipple) and when I pressed on that nipple a stream of dark blood ran down my chest, so I'm not sure if these lumps could be cancerous or what. I don't have any signs of low testosterone: I'm lean and muscular, good at PT, I easily grow a beard and no I've never used steroids.
I have not seen any doctor about this yet. I'm already expecting that the army will not pay for surgery, which is fine, I'm definitely willing to pay for surgery out of pocket. My worry is that if I see an army doc and tell him my concerns that they will just say its normal and lots of guys suffer from it (which is true enough) and would not condone me going into surgery with a civilian doctor, even if I pay for it myself. Maybe it's the wrong line of thinking but the Army has taught me that it's better to ask for forgiveness than permission. I know there would be some recovery time from this surgery but I could potentially take leave and get it done and not have anybody find out.
I'm looking for feedback/advice from anyone that knows how the army would handle this or has gone through a similar experience. Should I see what the Army doctor would say first or just get the thing taken care of by a civilian surgeon and hope there aren't any complications/nobody finds out?