Hi Catharine
The discharge you describe sounds like mamary ductal ectasia. This is
common in women in their 40s and 50s and is considered to be part of
normal breast involution. Ductal ectasia occurs when a  duct often
close to the nipple becomes dilated and fills with debris and fluid.
The  duct can then become blocked or clogged with a thick, sticky
substance of variable colours:  cheesy through to black. There are
usually no other symptoms, sometimes a bit of breast tenderness and
for some women pain.
I had a mother in one of my mastitis studies who had a history of
mastitis with her first baby which led her to wean, then for 12 to 18
months post weaning she had  what she described as a yukky thick grey
discharge which was cultered and sent for cytology. Nothing sinister
and she was given a diagnosis of ductal ectasia.
Regards
Cathy Fetherston RM PhD IBCLC
Perth Western Australia

>
> Date:    Tue, 31 Jul 2007 13:18:06 -0700
> From:    Catharine Decker <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: No information re: sebaceous nipple discharge?
>
> I posted a few days ago about a woman who had had a
> sebaceous type discharge from her nipples for many
> years after weaning.  I had hoped someone here might
> have some information.  So far, I have not heard
> anything.  One person asked whether it could be a
> nipple discharge due to antidepressant medications,
> but the patient is not on these.  In fact, she is on
> no medications at all.  But the nipple discharge is
> very, very different from any discharge I have ever
> seen before, which is why I am asking here.
>
> Brief history again.  45 yr old woman w/ subareolar
> mass which turned out to be an inflamed sebaceous
> cyst.  Expression of contents of cyst (blood, pus and
> sebum) resolved the mass and follow-up exam in women's
> health dept was normal, as were u/s and mammogram
> ordered at followup.
>
> But the patient had a most unusual finding on exam.
> Both of her nipples produced a thick, cheesy,
> fetid-smelling, yellowish-white discharge from the
> milk ducts.  As far as I could tell, it was sebaceous
> material or sebum just exactly as one would find if
> draining a sebaceous cyst.  It wasn't thin or milky
> and did not form droplets, but rather it squirted out
> in thin strings with a consistency like paste.  Why it
> would be coming from both breasts, from all of the
> milk pores was a puzzle to me.  The patient stated
> that she has had that same discharge for 10+ years
> since she weaned her last baby.  Noone ever commented
> on it at a physical and she never asked.
>
> Has anyone seen this before?  And more importantly, is
> there any cause for concern?
>
> Catharine Decker, MD
> Family Medicine/Urgent Care
> Luther Mayo Midelfort Health Systems
>

             ***********************************************

Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
Mail all commands to [log in to unmask]
To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or [log in to unmask])
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet or ([log in to unmask])
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]