Female nipple discharge is an external symptom of breast diseases. The causes of nipple discharge in women are as follows.
First: Physiology or Pathology?
There are two kinds of nipple discharge in women, and nipple discharge can be divided into physiological and pathological. In addition to the nipple discharge during lactation mentioned above, the milk secretion within one year after stopping breastfeeding and the milk discharge caused by endocrine disorders during menopause are all physiological nipple discharge, which is a normal phenomenon.
Pathological discharge refers to natural discharge from one or more catheters unrelated to pregnancy and lactation on one or both sides under non-physiological conditions. Discontinuous and persistent nipple discharge mainly refers to pathological discharge. Non-pregnant or non-lactating, there is fluid overflow at the nipple, which belongs to pathological nipple discharge. This is an early phenomenon of breast disease.
Second: nipple discharge is a common breast disease.
1. mammary duct ectasia
The first symptom of some patients with this disease is nipple discharge. The color of the spill is mostly brown, and a few are bloody. This disease usually occurs in non-lactating or menopausal women over 40 years old. There is a lump in the oozing areola area, which is often less than 3 cm in diameter. The axillary lymph nodes on the same side can be swollen, soft and tender. If it is complicated with infection, local redness and heat pain.
2. Intraductal papilloma
This disease is more common in people aged 40 ~ 50. 75% of tumors occur near the nipple. The tumor is small, with pedicled villi and many thin-walled blood vessels, and it is easy to bleed. Sometimes a patient's breast is palpated carefully, and a lump as big as a cherry can be found under the areola, which is soft, smooth and active. Intraductal papilloma is mostly a single-hole exudation. Because the tumor has many thin-walled blood vessels, the exudate is often bloody or dark brown liquid.
3. Cystic hyperplasia of breast
Women of childbearing age are more common. Some patients' nipple discharge is yellow-green, brown, bloody or colorless serous. This disease has two characteristics: first, it is characterized by periodic breast pain, which is easy to appear or aggravate in the premenstrual period. The light ones are often ignored by patients, and the heavy ones can affect work and life. Second, breast lumps are often multiple, which can be seen on one side or both sides, or can be confined to a part of the breast or scattered throughout the breast. The mass is nodular in different sizes, tough and not hard, does not adhere to the skin, and has unclear boundaries with surrounding tissues. The mass can shrink after menstruation.
4. Breast cancer
Some breast cancer patients' nipple discharge is bright red or dark red, sometimes it will produce clear water-like discharge, which is colorless and transparent, and occasionally has a sticky feeling, leaving no trace after overflowing. 45 ~ 49 years old and 60 ~ 64 years old are the two peaks of this disease. Its onset is slow, and patients can inadvertently find breast lumps, mostly located in the inner upper limit or the outer upper limit, which are painless and enlarged. Orange peel-like skin changes and satellite nodules appeared in the advanced lesion site. Axillary lymph nodes become swollen and hardened, and merge with each other with the progress of the disease.
If nipple discharge occurs, no matter what way or form it is, attention should be paid to it, because nipple discharge during non-lactation is mostly the manifestation of various breast diseases. Especially if there is nipple discharge in men, the possibility of breast malignant tumor is very high, which should not be underestimated!