Woman who recently gave birth begins lactating from armpit

In Portugal, an unusual case was reported: after giving birth, a 26-year-old woman began lactation from the armpit.

According to Live Science, two days after giving birth, the woman began to complain of pain in her right armpit. The doctor who examined her discovered a kind of rounded mass, from which, when pressed, a white liquid was released. As it turned out, it was breast milk.

Further research confirmed that the woman had polymastia - the presence of breast tissue outside the breast itself. The causes of polymastia lie in disorders of embryonic development. This pathology is detected in 2-6% of women and 1-3% of men. Sometimes it can be a full-fledged additional breast with a nipple and areola, but sometimes only the inner breast tissue is formed, as was the case in this case.

Most often, such a formation is found precisely in the armpit. But there were also cases when they were found in the groin folds, between two normally located mammary glands, in the neck, back, buttocks and even on the feet.

Although polymastia is a congenital anomaly, many people only learn about it after puberty, during pregnancy, or while breastfeeding. Like a real breast, this formation begins to swell and may hurt a little. There are even cases when women performed full pumping from the extra breast. For example, in 1999, a similar case was recorded - a woman was diagnosed with additional breast tissue in the armpit. And from it the patient expressed milk.

According to experts, the presence of additional tissue in general is not dangerous to health, but requires constant monitoring by an oncologist for the formation of cancer. The fact is that both benign and malignant processes occur in it, as in the tissues of an ordinary breast. In addition to oncological diseases, which are often detected too late due to an abnormal location, patients with polymastia may develop mastitis, the formation of abscesses, cysts and other problems.

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