Nipple discharge
medical condition
Nipple discharge is fluid from the nipple, with or without squeezing the breast. The discharge can be milky, clear, green, purulent, bloody, or faintly yellow. The consistency can be thick, thin, sticky, or watery.
Nipple discharge may be normal, such as milk in late pregnancy or after childbirth, and in newborns during the first weeks of life. It may also be normal following squeezing, in women during the reproductive years. It is likely abnormal if it occurs in men, contains blood, is from only one breast, or is associated with a breast lump, swelling, redness or overlying skin changes. Reasons for abnormal discharge include an intraductal papilloma, duct ectasia, blocked milk duct, infected breast (mastitis or breast abscess), breast cancer, certain medications, and conditions that raise prolactin.
Milky discharge in a non-pregnant, non-breast feeding women is evaluated differently to other abnormal nipple discharge. Often, the cause can be determined based on symptoms and examination. Blood tests may be done to rule out low thyroid or high prolactin.
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This entry incorporates text from “Nipple discharge” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.