ACTOR Neil Ashton claims bullies tried to ‘milk’ his man boobs as a youngster.
Cruel kids would stamp on his chest and he even resorted to hitting himself to try to minimise what he feared were “female breasts”.
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The Brassic star, real name Neil Smith, was just 11 when his left breast became tender and a fist-sized lump appeared.
It left him terrified he was turning into a woman, and a target for thugs at school.
He was regularly attacked, but his GP told him it was simply a part of puberty.
Neil, who also appeared in It’s a Sin alongside Olly Alexander, tried to hide his problems, but eventually underwent surgery aged 14 in a desperate attempt to end his torment.
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Doctors removed his muscle and glandular tissue, but he was left with a concave chest, wonky nipples and a 10in scar.
After the op, Neil’s body confidence hit rock bottom and the actor spent decades avoiding topless roles or exposing his chest in the gym for fear of being mocked.
In his 40s, he was finally diagnosed with gynecomastia – an over-development or enlargement of the breast tissue in men that’s often caused by fluctuating hormone levels.
Now Neil, who is waiting to undergo his third ‘moob job’, is sharing his story in a bid to help other young men struggling with the same condition.
Neil, who plays Davey MacDonagh in Brassic, which also stars Michelle Keegan, said: “If you’re a teenager, they won’t consider doing anything until you’re out of puberty, which is years when you’re being bullied and the years when you’re becoming an adult and figuring out body image.
“It breaks my heart thinking of any lads going through that when it’s something so simple to fix.
“It’s massively affected me throughout my life. Physically, I always had pain in my chest from the scar and mentally, I couldn’t go out topless in public.
“Even recently, I took my top off in the gym and heard someone giggling.
“I did a commercial job once and I was wearing a vest and I could see the director pointing at me saying it looks weird.
“I’ve been single for a very long time and I think it’s affected me more than I was aware of.”
Neil said he was already a target at school, but this only worsened when what he feared was a “female breast” appeared on his chest.
He would pace the corridors with his arms over his front as the lump grew more and more visible through his clothes.
Confused over his changing appearance, Neil even questioned whether he was actually transitioning into a woman.
“I was already a young guy wondering if I was gay, then I started growing these breasts and thought, ‘Am I actually a woman?’,” he said.
“I was being bullied at school anyway for being gay, even though I didn’t really know what that was at the time. I was always a little bit different.
“Around age 11, I started to get a real tenderness in my breast on the left-hand side. It was really sore.
“I just thought it was puberty and part and parcel of growing up.
“Then it started to grow and develop into a female breast basically, and it was only on the one side. It started to get bigger and bigger.
“I started walking around with my arm up trying to hide this lump because it was becoming really obvious through my clothes.
“I started to get bullied for that. People said I was so gay I was starting to turn into a woman.
“They would all laugh and point at me in lessons, they said they were man boobs.”
I was already a young guy wondering if I was gay, then I started growing these breasts and thought, ‘Am I actually a woman?’
Neil Ashton
Remembering one particularly painful day, Neil said a group of students was waiting for him in the changing rooms.
Once he entered, they started stamping on his chest, “trying to get milk out of it”.
“I was covered in bruises,” he said. “Mum and dad took me to the doctors and they said it was just puberty and that I’d grow out of it.
“But the bullying started getting worse and worse. I would bang my fist on my chest trying to get rid of it.”
At 14, Neil underwent an operation to remove the lump, but the surgery left him with a concave chest and a mammoth scar.
Neil said: “Rather than just taking the glandular tissue out, they took all the muscle out too.
“They basically made my chest even worse; they made it look really concave and the nipples went noticeably asymmetrical.
“When my other side started to develop normally, it just made the side that had surgery look even worse.
“I didn’t want to take my top off in public. I just sort of learned to live with it.”
SPEAK UP ABOUT MOOB CONCERNS
It wasn’t until 30 years later, when he began developing a larger breast on the right side, that he was formally diagnosed with gynecomastia.
Doctors once again told Neil that the lump would go away on its own, but the breast continued to grow.
The actor was even placed on a breast cancer drug as his testosterone levels dropped and his oestrogen levels rose.
After being referred to a specialist clinic, Neil was given the go-ahead for reconstructive surgery on his left side, and elective surgery on the right.
“The consultant was amazing,” Neil, 53, said.
“He was really angry about what they’d done to my breast and I just burst into tears.
“He said he can deal with the gynecomastia on the right-hand chest and take some fatty deposits from my hips to try and rebuild the breast on the other side.
“That’s the stage I’m at now. I’ve had two operations so far and I’m meant to have a third.”
Now, Neil is urging any other teenagers or young men to push for elective surgery with their GP if they have concerns over their “moobs”.
He said: “Speak to your GP. They need to push for the surgery and have it corrected.
“Hopefully they’ll find a sympathetic consultant to push for elective surgery for them.”
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What is gynaecomastia?
Gynaecomastia (sometimes referred to as ‘man boobs’) is a common condition that causes boys’ and men’s breasts to swell and become larger than normal.
It can happen at any age, but it is most common in teenage boys and older men.
Signs vary from a small amount of extra tissue around the nipples to more prominent breasts. It can affect one or both sides.
Gynaecomastia can be caused by an imbalance between the sex hormones testosterone and oestrogen, which can cause breast tissue to grow.
While all men produce some oestrogen, they usually have much higher levels of testosterone, which stops the oestrogen from causing breast tissue to grow.
If the balance of hormones in the body changes, this can cause a man’s breasts to grow.
Sometimes, the cause of this imbalance is unknown. But if you’re overweight, you’re also more likely to have excess fat in that area.
If you’re worried about breast tissue growth, speak to your GP.
Treatment options include medication to adjust any hormone imbalances and surgery to remove the excess tissue.
Source: NHS