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According to recent reports, nearly 33 percent of adolescent boys experience puffy nipples, a condition that often runs in families.

"It's one of those secrets many of them don't want like to talk about because it's some what embarrassing," said Dr. Manny Cirenza.

It's called gynecomastia, which usually hits boys as they begin puberty.

"Boys are getting tremendous hormone surges right around 11, 12 years of age, before they really fully enter adolescence and with those hormone surges, that hormone is going to be interpreted all over their bodies in many different ways, that will grow hair and muscle unfortunately when that hormone is pushing through their system around their nipples. It gets misinterpreted to stimulate as a hormone to stimulate breast production so they start to develop nipple buds, breast buds that develop just below the nipples. They can be painful, tender and quite embarrassing," said Cirenza.

Pediatrician Dr. Manny Cirenza said the majority of adolescent boys he sees in his office experience gynecomastia, which often begins around age 11 but can start as late as age 15 and usually resolves itself without treatment within 12 months.

Although there are several treatments, surgery is option, although rare it is the quickest and most successful.

For those rare cases, plastic surgeons are able to reduce the degree of puffiness. Another cause that is preventable is obesity.

"They are going to have sometimes extra estrogen in their system from being obese, from the fat in their system and the fat that is on their body and when that happens they can sometimes develop a bit of breast tissue which obviously is embarrassing for them. This becomes another reason for your boys to try their best to remain fit and healthy as they can," Cirenza said.