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.... mailto:[log in to unmask] "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] WEB PAGE: http://www.telcomplus.net/kga/lactation.htm LACTNET archives http://library.ummed.edu/lsv/archives/lactnet.html