Before a woman gets seriously ill, the color of this part of her body will darken

It is important for women to take care of their breasts. By observing their breasts at any time, they can discover many diseases. The color of nipples and areolas can also indicate problems with women's health. Let's take a look at it below.

Warning signs of darkening of the areola

Physiological changes of darkening of areola

1. After a woman becomes pregnant, starting from the early stages of pregnancy, the color of her nipples and areolas will deepen, gradually changing from light red to dark brown. This change is mainly due to the increase in estrogen and progesterone in the body after pregnancy, and is a normal physiological change.

2. For some women, even when they are not pregnant, the color of their nipples and areolas gradually deepens from pink-brown to dark brown. A breast examination may not reveal any lesions, but this color change indicates that the woman has a "transient" increase in estrogen in her body. Perhaps after a period of time, due to self-regulation, the estrogen level returns to normal, and the color of the nipples and areola also returns to normal. This is still a normal physiological change.

Pathological changes in the darkening of the areola

1. The color of the nipples and areolas deepens, accompanied by severe itching around the nipples and areolas. During breast examination, hyperplastic lesions or cystic hyperplastic lesions may be found in both or one breast. The darkening of the color of the nipple and areola indicates an increase in the level of estrogen in the body. It is consistent with the law of disease occurrence for the breast, which is a target organ.

2. The color of the nipple and areola simply deepens to dark brown or black brown. Even small nodules may be found around the areola glands, forming protrusions. At this time, there is no lesion when examining the breasts. Should we consider whether the patient has more serious liver disease? This is because liver disease causes liver function to decline, and estrogen cannot be normally broken down in the liver, causing the nipples and areolas to darken in color, which is exactly the same as the "spider nevi" and "cinnabar palms" that appear in men with severe liver disease.

3. When a woman's ovaries suffer from certain benign tumors, the amount of estrogen secreted by the ovaries increases, which can cause the color of the nipples and areola to darken, and many small nodules may appear around the areola glands. Such patients should see a gynecologist as soon as possible to find out the cause and receive timely treatment.

In view of this, when examining the breasts, be sure to pay attention to changes in the color of the nipples and areolas. It is necessary to clarify whether the changes in the color of the nipples and areola are physiological or pathological, and make a clear diagnosis and active treatment based on the characteristics of the changes.

What does itchy nipples and areola mean?

Some women may not have any clear lumps in their breasts, but may only have itching and rashes on the nipples and areolas, which look like eczema. In fact, this may be a special type of cancer, namely nipple eczema-like breast cancer. So don't ignore the small changes.

Of course, the eczema-like changes in the nipple and areola are not necessarily cancer; some of them are simply eczema. So, what kind of situations should cause special vigilance?

Generally speaking, if eczematous changes occur in the nipple and areola on one side and do not heal for a long time, there is a high possibility of eczematous cancer. The main symptoms are initial itching or mild burning pain of the nipple, followed by redness of the skin of the nipple and areola, mild erosion, and yellow-brown or gray scaly crusts often attached to the surface. The skin in the affected area is rough, thickened and hard, with a clear boundary with the surrounding area. Later, the nipple on the affected side may become sunken or eroded, or a hard lump may be felt in the breast.