# Scar tissue lump on nipple?



## melissel (Jun 30, 2004)

Has anyone dealt with this, or do you know anything at all about it?

I had some kind of recurrent nipple infection for almost two years while nursing my first. It started with mastitis in my left breast when she was five months old, and from then on, every month or so I would develop what looked like a milk blister over a nipple duct, except that the white tissue that looked as though it had milk behind it didn't actually have milk behind it. Well, obviously it did, but the white tissue on the nipple seems to have really been infected tissue, because even when the milk was flowing freely, the duct opening would have a bright white ring of tissue with a bright red center through which the milk flowed. Yes, I know, very pleasant! Each sore was immensely painful and almost always resulted in mastitis in the related duct. I saw so many health professionals of all kinds, but no one could really put a name or a treatment on it. Toward the end, I saw an MD who was an LC, who told me that it looked like the thickened top portion of my left nipple was probably scar tissue. At that point I was nursing much less often and of course, didn't have a recurrence from then until we weaned about three months ago.

Sooooo...now I have a lump on that nipple. It looks almost like a big pimple, but it doesn't hurt or shrink or grow or anything, and I'm petrified that it's a lump of scar tissue blocking a duct. In fact, I'm reasonably sure it is, considering that it's right on the portion of the nipple where I had the most problems. Has anyone else faced something like this? Can scar tissue be removed? Am I going to have to let the supply disappear in that breast because that duct will be forever blocked and consequently riddled with mastitis?

UGH! I wish I had thought about this sooner, considering I'm a month away from my due date. I can only imagine what mastitis in those first few days will be like. I'm going to call my dermatologist, who was very willing to work with me when the next outbreak occurred to help figure out what was going on, except that I never had another outbreak after I saw her (it was toward the end). But she's very hard to get an appointment with, and I only have four weeks left!

I am practically in tears over the idea that BFing might not work this time, because it meant so much to both me and my first DD. TIA for any help you can offer.

Melissa


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