I had the (dubious) honor of assisting the same mother through 4 (count
'em!) abscess drainages in the space of as many months several years ago.
In each case, I accompanied her to the surgeon who did the work (the baby
slept on my shoulder next to mother who was on the table). At our
insistence (the ob and me), the surgeon cut along skin lines, meaning
vertically from the nipple rather than circumferential across numerous
ducts.

The mother healed beautifully, virtually no scarring (she had stretch marks
that were far more noticeable!) and in all but one instance was able to
breastfeed on that side as well. Where one incision and drain was too close
to the areolar margin, we used a very small breast pump that enabled her to
keep that milk flowing until the tenderness had abated and she could resume
breastfeeding.

Even the surgeon was surprised at how little scarring was present....

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"We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly
disguised as impossible situations."
Kathleen G. Auerbach,PhD, IBCLC (Ferndale, WA USA) [log in to unmask]
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