What to do if your breasts swell during lactation

Breastfeeding mothers not only have to feed their babies, but also have to regularly observe breast health problems. Many breastfeeding mothers often encounter the phenomenon of breast lumps during lactation, which is not only extremely painful, but also very uncomfortable. The uncomfortable symptoms will continue to spread. Breast lumps during lactation may be caused by organ tissues sticking together or other medical conditions, including breast cysts.

Causes of symptoms

1. Inflammatory breast masses

Breast inflammatory disease is a common disease, and its incidence rate accounts for 1/4 of the breast disease patients in the same period, mostly women of childbearing age. It is divided into specific inflammation and non-specific inflammation.

1. Non-specific inflammatory mass

This is mainly due to the decrease in the body's resistance after childbirth, which creates favorable conditions for the invasion, growth and reproduction of pathogens. Most are caused by pyogenic cocci, including acute mastitis and periductal mastitis.

2. Specific inflammatory masses of the breast

Chronic granulomatous inflammation caused by some biological factors other than microorganisms such as pyogenic cocci, such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis, fungi, parasites, chemical factors (such as allergens, liquid paraffin, etc.) and physical factors; it is the inflammatory factors of the breast secondary to systemic diseases: such as tuberculosis, fungal diseases, syphilis, etc., which have a long course and slow progression of lesions and have the formation of granuloma-like as their common feature. Although there are many types of diseases, they are rarely seen, including: breast tuberculosis, fungal mastitis, breast actinomycosis, breast filariasis, breast tuberculosis, Wegler's granuloma of the breast, and localized breast infarction.

2. Poor breast structure

The disease has a high incidence rate and is one of the most common diseases in women of childbearing age, with the peak incidence occurring around the age of 40. The occurrence and development of this disease are closely related to the state of ovarian endocrine. When the ovarian endocrine system is out of balance, with excessive secretion of estrogen and a relative decrease in progesterone, it not only stimulates breast parenchymal hyperplasia, but also causes irregular budding of the terminal ducts, epithelial hyperplasia, tubular dilatation and cyst formation. The loss of progesterone's inhibitory effect on estrogen also leads to excessive proliferation and collagenization of the interstitial connective tissue and lymphocyte infiltration. It is now believed that this disorder of proliferation and involution is the basis of mammary dysplasia. Breast structural abnormalities mainly include breast tissue hyperplasia, breast adenosis, breast cystic disease, etc.

3. Breast tumor-like lesions

Breast lesions are often seen that are neither tumors nor structural dysplasia and inflammation. They have tumor-like masses, and some even have capsules. However, their development is restricted by the body, unlike tumors, which are not restricted and have no restrictions. However, they are different from inflammatory masses and do not have clinical manifestations such as redness, swelling, heat, pain, and dysfunction, including:

1. Breast fat necrosis

This disease is an aseptic fat necrotizing inflammation caused by trauma. It is due to the fatty acid enzymes in the blood or tissues that cause the nodular fat to change, followed by a series of pathological changes such as true necrosis. However, some patients have no external injuries. In addition, secondary fat necrosis may also be seen: such as suppurative infection of the breast, breast surgery, tumor hemorrhagic necrosis and mammary duct ectasia, all of which can cause breast fat necrosis.

2. Mammary duct ectasia

It often occurs in multiparous women around the time of menopause, in the already degenerated mammary gland, and often affects only one side of the breast. This disease is neither an infectious inflammation nor a tumor, but a degenerative change in which the epithelial cells of the lactiferous ducts in the areola area atrophy and lose their secretory function. It is actually a tumor-like change caused by a foreign body reaction, which is easily confused with a breast tumor.