Breast lumps types

Breast lumps

The breast lump refers to the growth of tissue in the breast, and it can also be called breast mass, breast growth or breast swelling. When one has a breast lump, it can have definite borders or it can be athickened area that is not like the surrounding tissue. Due to the breast lump, the breasts might not be symmetrical anymore, or the nipple might be inverted. Furthermore, pain in the breast may appear, as well as the dischargefrom the nipple.

It causes a lot of distress when a woman finds a lump in the breast sincethe first thought is that it is the breast cancer. However, breast lumps can beof various types, of which not all are not as serious as the breast cancer. It is always importantto have the breast lump checked out at a doctor, even though in 80% of the cases, the breast lumps are just the harmless benign growths.

Types of breast lumps

One of the types of the breast lumps are cysts which are the sacs filledwith water, typically of the size of the grape. In the majority of cases, breast cystsusually appear in the women’s 30s and 40s and they do not appear when the womenenter menopause. Breast cysts usually do not need any treatment since they tendto disappear alone.Another type of breast lumps are fibroadenomas, which are solid and rubberygrowths that usually appear in the women’s 20s and 30s and which can be easilydetected since when they are touched, they can move very easily under the skin.Fibroadenomas are not painful and the exact cause for the formation of theselumps is not found yet.Lipomas are also a type of breast lumps that mainly occur in middle-agedwomen. They are fatty masses that grow very slowly and do not need any medicaltreatment except from when they are painful. In such cases, a surgical procedure is recommended.Mastitis is the medical term from the infection of the breast tissue causedby bacteria, and it is manifested through the swelling and redness accompaniedby the pain.All these lumps are not dangerous as the malignant tumors. When a womandevelops the breast malignant tumor it can be of the size of a small pea, oreven of the size of a golf ball. The lump of the breast cancer is hard, it doesnot have even edges and does not moved under the skin when it is pressed ortouched.