Nipple Discharge

Nipple Discharge

WHEN TO SEE YOUR DOCTOR

* The discharge is clear and yellow, watery or bloody.

* One or both nipples discharge continuously.

What Your Symptom Is Telling You

You notice it while pulling on your bra in the morning. Or when doing your monthly breast check. Suddenly you find a drop or two of milky fluid oozing from your nipple. Your hand freezes. Your mind floods with fear.

Is this a sign of something serious?

Not necessarily. In most cases, it's as normal to have a slight discharge ooze from your nipples as it is to have a trace of oil seep from your skin.

Like skin follicles, the ducts leading to the nipples naturally contain some fluid, according to Susan Love, M.D., director of the Breast Center at the University of California in Los Angeles and author of Dr. Susan Love's Breast Book. "The ducts of the nipples are pipelines; they're made to carry milk to the nipple," notes Dr. Love. "The fact that there's a little fluid in the pipes shouldn't be surprising." The discharge colors can range from gray, green or brown to white.

If you squeeze your nipples, you may produce more discharge, adds Norman L. Sadowsky, M.D., clinical professor of radiology at Tufts University School of Medicine and chief of the Faulkner-Sagoff Breast Center in Boston. "Squeezing and other forms of nipple pressure mimic a baby's suckling," says Dr. Sadowsky. Squeezing may stimulate the production of prolactin, the hormone responsible for making the breasts produce milk and other fluids.

In a nursing mother, nipple discharge can occur spontaneously even without direct stimulation of the breast. "A hungry baby's cry can bring on a blouse-drenching milk discharge in seconds flat," says Dr. Sadowsky.

But even a woman who isn't nursing will have discharge if her nipples are squeezed or stimulated long enough, studies show. When researchers attached a gentle breast pump suction to the nipples of a group of women, most had discharge, whether they were young, old, many years past the birth of their last child or had never been pregnant.

In fact, just about any kind of breast stimulation can produce a discharge from the nipples—a strong shower spray, a mammogram, an ill-fitting bra or clothes rubbing against the breasts during exercise.

You're also more likely to experience discharge when your hormone levels change. A woman's hormone levels can fluctuate when she goes on or off birth control pills, enters menopause or takes hormone replacement therapy. Besides hormones, a number of things can cause discharge from both nipples, including antidepressants and blood pressure medications.

If the secretion is thick, yellow, brown, green or puslike, you could have an infection within your breast. A clear, watery or bloody discharge could signal a tumor, which is more likely to be benign than malignant. "That's why it's important to keep alert to the consist-ency, color, persistence and location of the discharge," says Dr. Sadowsky.

Symptom Relief

Here are a few tips to ease your mind and control discharge.

Get help. If you experience discharge that seems in any way abnormal, bring it to the attention of your doctor. If you have an infection, your doctor will prescribe an appropriate antibiotic.

Get a sports bra. If you are prone to discharge, make sure your clothes don't rub against your nipples, especially during exercise. "Going braless in this circumstance is not a good idea," says Dr. Sadowsky. "Your clothes will continually stimulate your breasts and may make the problem worse."

Wear leakproof pads. If you are nursing, you can avoid embarrassing breast milk leakage by wearing absorbent breast pads inside your bra, says Dr. Sadowsky.