I have seen this a couple of times.  Actually on African-American women.
I had them use Lansinoh or Purelan on the areola and nipple and after a
few days things were much better.  The skin actually shed, dry particles
were removed during their shower.  No extra rubbing or removal needed.  I
hope this helps.
Darlene Breed, RN, BSN, IBCLC
Worcester, MA (USA)

On Thu, 4 Mar 1999 00:54:49 +0200 Pamela Morrison IBCLC
<[log in to unmask]> writes:
>Hi all.  I'm seeking the benefit of your collective experience again.
>I
>have never seen anything like this before, yet in the last month I
>have seen
>two mothers, one African, one Japanese, on about day 3 postpartum, who
>both
>appear to have some kind of skin condition which is confined to the
>areolas.
>Instead of being soft and fine and luminous, the skin is like very
>fine
>suede leather, (dull, not shiny) and it sheds in little black bits.
>It
>*feels* rough - but smoothly rough, if you know what I mean (??) - it
>doesn't feel like *skin*.  In the African mom it seemed more
>pronounced -
>the skin appeared to be wrinkled in tiny little hexagonal shapes, with
>little indentations (?sebacious glands) in the centre of each hexagon.
> In
>the Japanese mom the dark areolar skin was shedding to reveal much
>paler
>skin underneath.  In both cases the skin did not seem dry - just
>leathery.
>It was *not* psoriasis, nor eczema, both of which I would recognize,
>and it
>didn't hurt or itch.  The breasts themselves were fine, the skin
>normal. The
>leathery skin covered the whole of each areola, but did not appear
>anywhere
>else on the body.  Naturally, both moms were bothered by it.  Has
>anyone
>seen anything like this?   What is it?  Does it need to be treated -
>and how?
>
>Thanks for any ideas.
>
>Pamela Morrison IBCLC, Zimbabwe
>mailto:[log in to unmask]
>

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