Will mastitis during lactation heal on its own?

Mastitis during lactation is a relatively common inflammation, which is mostly caused by excessive milk or poor milk discharge. This will cause breast redness, swelling and pain, lumps inside the breasts and other symptoms during lactation, which often make women suffer. Generally, after good care, mastitis will gradually heal itself, but for those with obvious symptoms, they should be treated well in time.

It usually occurs 2-3 days before mastitis. At this time, localized lumps may appear in the breast, which are tender or painful to the touch, and are often accompanied by symptoms such as fever and chills. At this time, the milk is mostly accumulated due to blockage of the mammary ducts, and bacteria multiply rapidly in the accumulated area, causing inflammation.

Breastfeeding mothers, especially first-time mothers, have delicate nipple and areola skin. Frequent sucking by the baby in the early stages can cause skin damage and pain in the nipple and areola area, so they breastfeed less and fail to empty the unfinished milk after each milk swelling, which can lead to milk accumulation and even mastitis. Director Li Zhixin of the Breast and Thyroid Surgery Department of Shenzhen Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine has observed in his long-term clinical practice that improper living habits and exogenous wind, cold and dampness are also the most common causes of milk accumulation. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that coldness is contractive, and after a woman catches a cold, it can induce contracture, narrowing and blockage of the mammary ducts, thereby causing milk stasis.

If the milk can be emptied in time at this stage, the symptoms can be eliminated, and there is no need to take medicine and you can continue breastfeeding. The stagnant milk may sometimes turn yellow and thicker, but the chance of early mastitis infection is not high and the bacterial content is not high. Mothers can continue breastfeeding with confidence. The baby's strong sucking helps to clear the mammary ducts. Compared with the common breast pumps on the market, the "kneading and milk discharge" method commonly used by the Breast Surgery Clinic of Shenzhen Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine is more effective and practical.

At this time, early intervention with traditional Chinese medicine can also be used. The Department of Thyroid and Breast Surgery of Shenzhen Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine often uses Chaihu Tongru Decoction combined with external application of traditional Chinese medicine ointment for treatment, with good results. Generally, the condition can be relieved in about 3 days.

If milk stasis lasts for 3-5 days, mastitis has basically entered the purulent stage. At this time, mothers with the disease may experience enlarged breast lumps, increased pain, flushing of the breast skin, and a high fever that is difficult to subside. At this stage, there is already a considerable amount of inflammatory milk in the inflamed breast tissue, the ducts are almost completely blocked, and milk secretion is significantly reduced. At this time, drug treatment is needed. Oral administration of Chinese herbal decoctions and external application of Chinese herbal ointments are effective in treating mastitis during lactation.