Fellow lactnetters,

Yesterday I saw a woman with persistent nipple pain after 1 month.  When we
corrected the positioning on the right breast, her pain level went down from
an
8 to a 2 on a scale of 0-10.  When she attached correctly on the left side,
the baby begain to pull of during the let-down, sputtering a bit.  I noticed
upon detachment that the previously pink nipple was now purple.

B/c the baby was fussy, we spent some time calming and he fell asleep.  I
asked to check this nipple (about 20minutes later) and the color was pink
again, but as she began to touch the nipple it turned purple again.  I did
notice that she had prominent veins evident around (but not on) the areola.
 Is there a vasospasm going on here? or varicosity?  Could that contribute to
the tenderness she's feeling even when not nursing - just something brushing
up against the nipple?  Neither nipples appear traumatized and yeast has been
ruled out.  Correcting the positioning may be enough, but she is checking in
on Monday, and I wanted to give further input about the discoloration.    Any
experience out there?

tia,
Chris (cincinnati)