Is plasma cell mastitis serious?

Plasma cell mastitis is a non-bacterial breast disease. It is also a type of mastitis, but it can also cause great pain to patients, and it develops rapidly, posing a great threat to health. Let's talk about it below.

Nipple discharge is an early manifestation of plasma cell mastitis. The discharge is often intermittent and spontaneous and may last for a long time. Some patients have complete or incomplete retracted nipples. Among them, a considerable number of patients have congenital retracted nipples, while some patients have retracted nipples gradually after the onset of the disease.

During the mass stage, the disease often starts suddenly and progresses rapidly. The patient feels local pain and discomfort in the breast, which may be tingling or dull pain, and finds a lump. The lumps are mostly located under the areola or extend in a certain direction. The lumps vary in size and shape, are hard and tough, have a nodular surface, and have unclear boundaries.

The lump may be locally red, swollen, hot and painful. The redness and swelling may extend to 1/4-1/2 of the breast. The breast skin becomes edematous and some may appear orange peel-like. The patient's axillary lymph nodes are enlarged and tender. Some patients may always have breast lumps, and the lumps gradually increase in size.

In the later stage, the breast lump softens and forms an abscess. The pus that flows out after rupture often contains acne-like or oil-like substances. Fistulas leading to the milk-transferring foramen are often formed, the wound does not heal for a long time or ruptures repeatedly, the local tissue becomes hard and uneven, and the nipple becomes more sunken.