Understanding the Ailment of Inflammation or Swollen Breasts

There are several reasons that can result in breast inflammation, we examine three of the most common causes and look on treatments that can be administered by your physician and what to do to reduce the pain suffered and shorten the recovery period.

Acute Mastitis
This disease may occur at the beginning or the end of lactation. Mastitis may result from the transfer of microorganisms to the breast by the hands of the patient or those of the personnel caring for her. The baby with an oral, eye or skin infection may be a source of infection. Mastitis is also caused by blood- borne organisms resulting in an infection of the ducts results, causing stagnation of milk in one or more lobules. The breast becomes tough and doughy, and the patient complains of dull pain in the region affected. A nipple that is discharging pus, serum or blood demands investigation.

Treatment consists of taking the baby off the breast temporarily. Heat and cold are used to treat the inflammatory process. A saline cathartic is usually administered and the patient may be given a broad spectrum antibiotics. These might work depending on some extenuating factors that your physician should elaborate on.

Progesterone has been found to reduce breast congestion, which in turn relieves the pain. The patient should wear a firm breast support and follow good habits of personal hygiene.

Mammary Abscess
Breast abscess usually develops as a sequel of an acute mastitis, although it may occur independent of lactation. The area affected becomes very tender and dusky red, and pus may be expressed from the nipple. Chemotherapy and antibiotic therapy are being used with success; however, incision and drainage may be performed when fluctuation indicates the presence of pus. Dressings soaked in hot solution increase the drainage and hasten resolution. The use of the suction cup has proved to be valuable in the treatment of such abscesses.

Chronic Cystic Mastitis
In this condition of the breast, many small cysts are produced owing to an overgrowth of fibrous tissue about the ducts. The disease occurs most commonly between the ages of 30 and 50 and is characterized by an uncomfortable feeling in the breast, the presence of small nodules that feel like tiny lead shot, and, occasionally, by shooting pains.

Any mass in the breast should raise a suspicion of malignancy, and for that reason surgical advice should be obtained. If the disease occurs before the age of 38, when it is important to preserve the function of the breast, the lesion may be kept under close observation for a time. In older women, and in younger women when doubt exists as to the diagnosis, it is safer to remove the mass for pathologic examination.

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