The harm of recurrent mastitis during lactation

We know that most mothers who suffer from mastitis are breastfeeding. Repeated attacks of mastitis during breastfeeding can be easily misdiagnosed as breast cancer. It would be a pity if the patient had her breast removed as if she had breast cancer. Therefore, it is very important to learn more about the common knowledge of mastitis during lactation. Let’s learn about it together! So what are the dangers of repeated attacks of mastitis during lactation? I hope you can understand more through the following introduction.

This disease is prone to recurrence, sometimes ulcerating and sometimes healing, and may form a fistula that does not heal for a long time. Due to its insidious onset and recurrent attacks, it is difficult to diagnose, especially to distinguish it from malignant breast tumors. If not treated properly, the disease may even be long-lasting.

Clinically, many patients suffering from non-lactation mastitis were diagnosed with breast cancer by doctors, and some even underwent "tumor resection surgery." Both of them can be felt as lumps when touched externally, which is different from the four characteristics of general inflammation, namely "redness, heat, swelling and pain". Although accompanied by pain, the skin will not turn red. This is also a major factor that confuses people into thinking that it is not inflammation but a tumor.

Any young or middle-aged women who develop acute breast abscesses, inflammatory masses, and chronic recurring fistulas during the non-lactation period and which do not heal for a long time are likely to have non-lactation mastitis. If the tumors shrink by more than 1/3 after using anti-inflammatory drugs for a week, the possibility of breast cancer can basically be ruled out because the tumor cannot change in this way through anti-inflammatory drug treatment.

It is reported that most breast cancer patients are middle-aged and elderly people. The course of the disease is progressive, the tumor is solid, and the boundaries are unclear. There is often skin adhesion and nipple inversion, and axillary lymph node metastasis is prone to occur. There is no redness, swelling or pain in the local skin of the tumor, and no abscess occurs. The above characteristics can often be used to distinguish the two. However, in some individual cases, the final diagnosis still needs to rely on pathological sections. Currently, commonly used diagnostic methods for non-lactation mastitis include B-ultrasound examination, fine needle aspiration biopsy and pathological examination.

I hope that women will go to the hospital for relevant examinations as soon as possible when they find that they have lactation mastitis, and consult a breast specialist to find out what disease they have. Don't be afraid of the recurrence of lactation mastitis during treatment. Following the doctor's instructions for treatment can avoid some serious consequences.