Which department should I see for mastitis?

Mastitis is a common breast disease for many women, especially during the lactation period when milk accumulation can easily lead to mastitis. Mastitis can cause great harm to health and requires timely treatment. When treating mastitis, you need to find the right department for faster treatment. You can go to the breast department to be diagnosed and treated by a professional doctor.

Which department should I go to for mastitis?

There will be various departments in the hospital, and each department is equipped with professional doctors. This is mainly to facilitate patients to go to the hospital for examination and treatment. A range of diseases is set for doctors and patients, which saves a lot of time for doctors and patients. If female friends suffer from mastitis, they can go to the hospital for systematic treatment and actively cooperate with the treatment. When registering at the hospital, they can go to the breast department or the gynecology department. Because mastitis is a breast disease, you have to go to the breast department when registering at the hospital. However, many hospitals do not have a breast department. In this case, you can go to the gynecology department. Breast disease is a gynecological disease. So there are two options in the hospital: breast department and gynecology department. After arriving at the hospital, the patient can decide based on the department set up by the hospital.

After a female friend suffers from mastitis, in addition to going to the hospital under the professional treatment of a doctor, she should also take good care of herself in daily life, which is also very beneficial for the recovery of mastitis. She must drain her milk as much as possible. The onset of mastitis is mainly due to the accumulation of milk in the breasts of female friends. Whether it is mild mastitis or more serious mastitis, as long as she suffers from mastitis, she must first find a way to drain the milk from the breasts. If there are no symptoms of abscess, she can continue to breastfeed the baby and let the baby suck out the milk. If there are symptoms of abscess or high fever, she must stop breastfeeding the baby and can squeeze out the milk with her hands or a breast pump.

It can also be treated with drugs. There are different drugs for the treatment of mastitis in traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine. In comparison, Western medicine is more effective faster, but the side effects are relatively large. Traditional Chinese medicine is divided into two types: external and internal use, and has no side effects on patients, and will not have much impact on breast milk. Therefore, the treatment effect of traditional Chinese medicine is better.

What to do if you have mastitis

1. Emptying the breast milk

Acute mastitis is generally divided into milk stasis type and bacterial infection type.

As the name suggests, failure to empty milk in time is one of the culprits. Mothers with mild symptoms can continue breastfeeding, which will help empty the milk as quickly as possible. Without the nutrition provided by breast milk, mastitis will not worsen even if there is a bacterial infection, and some improvement will be seen quickly with some medication.

2. Clothing

Clothing is very important. Try to wear loose and breathable underwear. Sometimes, underwear that is too tight may cause blockage of the gland duct, which in turn may cause acute breast inflammation.

3. Breast massage

Breast massage uses the squeezing effect to empty the milk ducts and promote the dissipation of congestion. This method is suitable for patients with blocked milk ducts, milk congestion, or early stages of lobular inflammation. However, proper massage is only an auxiliary role. If local edema is obvious, accompanied by fever, or an abscess has formed, you need to seek medical attention in time.

4. Cold compress

Cold compress can lower local temperature and slow the conduction of the peripheral nervous system. It can effectively relieve pain, reduce swelling, inhibit the spread of inflammation, and most importantly, reduce the secretion of milk.

5. Exercise appropriately

Exercise is not only good for postpartum recovery, but also plays a role in other health aspects. After suffering from mastitis, maintaining a certain amount of exercise every day can not only enhance the body's resistance, but also drive away negative emotions such as depression and anxiety, which helps recovery.

6. Medical treatment

When local edema, high fever, etc. occur, seek medical treatment as soon as possible. Common treatments for mastitis include: infusion, penicillin, and cephalosporin antibiotics.

Although mastitis will not affect breastfeeding, if you start medication, you need to ask your doctor whether it will affect breastfeeding.