I have followed these posts with interest, and somewhat agree with Maureen Minchion that this much loss of surface skin should be accompanied with a dx -- or at least some sort of informed opinion from medical staff about what might be occuring. But then, I get a fair number of clients referred by people who say, "Go see Barbara, she sees a lot of breasts (!)" So I guess there is also a lot of informed GUESSING we all do. I saw one preg. woman about a week before due date who had several layers of crusty looking "stuff" on her nipples. It flaked and peeled but was not particularly tender. She had heard not to prepare her nipples and also that milk rubbed into nipples was good. She understood this to mean to allow the leaking colostral fluids to remain on her nipples and not to wash them. I advised her to begin to use warm soaks and gentle, gentle wash cloth rubs after a bit of lansinoh application to remove these layers of dead skin and and crusted secretions. She did this over a period of a few days. The tissue below was pink and a bit "new" looking, but not terribly tender. I believe that if the baby had been put to breast, the saliva, sucking and washing away from the milk flow would have produced an affect that would have resembled these seedy nipples you all have described. But perhaps there are other mechanisms occuring. Any way, thought I'd share this one. Barbara Wilson-Clay, BSE, IBCLC priv. pract. Austin, Tx