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A New York man is suing a drug company after claiming that a medication he was prescribed caused him to grow breasts.
Two years ago, Shaquil Byrd was forced to undergo surgery to remove what he has described as “female breasts,” News 10 reported.
In 2002, at the age of 9, Byrd started taking Risperdal to help treat a severe mental health diagnosis, which he has chosen not to speak out about.
Just a couple of months after starting the medication, Byrd began gaining weight and he started to develop breasts.
As News 10 reports, Byrd quickly started getting teased and bullied at school for having breasts just like a woman.
Finally, after visiting an endocrinologist, Byrd got the horrifying diagnosis he’d been afraid of: He had gynecomastia, or abnormally large male breasts.
“Once I realized that I did have breasts, like actual breast tissue, it made me feel even more messed up,” Byrd said. “Because as a male, I’m not supposed to have breast tissue.”
As his breasts continued to grow, Byrd even began noticing a milky substance coming out of his nipples, which only made the abuse at school worse.
After years of feeling uncomfortable and self-conscious, Byrd ultimately opted to undergo surgery to have his breasts removed about two years ago.
Even though he no longer has large breasts, Byrd still deals with the psychological damage of having them every single day.
Now that he’s finally starting to feel like himself again, Byrd has decided to file a lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson, the company that makes Risperdal.
