Man with rare ‘boob’ condition is scared to take his top off while dating

A man with ‘boobs’ due to a rare condition is raising $8,741 (£6.5k) to have them removed – because he is too conscious to take his top off on dates.

Thabo Methie, 31, was just 10 years old when he first started noticing he was developing breasts instead of pecks.

Sporty Thabo says he was bullied at school, with kids saying they were “bigger than some of the females.”

Thabo stopped participating in sports like swimming at age 11 as he was too self-conscious to take off his top, and he says he became “sick” of being the brunt of every joke.

He went to the doctors and was diagnosed with gynaecomastia – an increase in the amount of breast gland tissue in boys or men.

Having lived with the condition for 21 years and worn oversized t-shirts to hide his chest, Thabo has decided that enough is enough.

As the surgery is deemed cosmetic, Thabo says it can’t be done through the NHS.

Instead, he’s set up a GoFundMe to raise the $8,741 (£6.5k) required for “life-changing” private surgery to remove the breast tissue he says has been holding him back for years.

Thabo, a healthcare assistant for the NHS blood and transplant service, originally from Marondera, Zimbabwe, but living in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, said: “It’s not painful, but it has mentally affected me because of how people were to me.

“I went for quite a while without dating someone because I didn’t want to take my clothes off.

“For such a long time, I would debate getting a knife and cutting it off myself.

“The moment people started making jokes, that really hurt me, and that stuck with me, especially when people pointed them out to me.

“Some girls were laughing about it at school, and the most heartbreaking one was my then-crush telling me that I could breastfeed.”

When Thabo was 13, he attended boarding school, where his insecurities grew and he became a recluse, trying to avoid any interaction with his peers.

He went on to spend the next four years trying to wash when no one would see him, which proved difficult, sharing a communal bathroom with 23 other people.

Thabo said: “My entire life has been about wearing clothes that hide something that makes me deeply embarrassed, and has gotten worse with time.

“Even now, when I want to swim, I worry what people will think of me, and I want my confidence to come back, and I don’t want to worry about what other people think of me.”

When Thabo was 19, he started to go running to try and prevent his chest from growing any bigger, which actually helped him to an extent.

Thabo said, “This has been ruining my self-esteem, and it’s just making me feel depressed most of the time.

“I have added strength training to the running, but these can only do so much, especially as I gain weight.

“I started eating healthier with food that has more fibre, and last year I started taking the weight loss injection, but I stopped taking it as it was really expensive.”

Thabo’s condition is thought to be linked to a hormone imbalance and has significantly impacted his life for over two decades.

Though he’s maintained an active lifestyle to try and manage it, he has gained 21kg and now weights 19st – and still wears XXXL t-shirts. The breast tissue has grown more with time, affecting his self-esteem and mental health, he said.

The NHS classifies the surgery as cosmetic and requires long-term UK-based medical records, which Thabo cannot provide due to his recent arrival on a visa since moving to the UK in 2023.

Thabo said: “To have this surgery would mean the world to me. It would be a huge weight off of my shoulders.

“I really hope the surgery can be as soon as possible. When I raise enough money, I will be booking the surgery straight away.”