Breast Disease

What causes chronic breast pain?

Many women are familiar with breast pain that routinely occurs at certain times of their menstrual cycle. However, you can also have ongoing breast pain that’s not related to hormonal changes during your periods.

Noncyclic breast pain can develop for many reasons. For example, a breast abscess, medications, injury, and having large breasts can lead to chronic breast pain.

Mastitis refers to inflamed and painful breast tissue caused by an infection. However, you can also develop chronic mastitis, which is persistent breast pain in one or both breasts without an ongoing infection.

What is benign breast disease?

Benign breast disease refers to changes in your breast that aren’t caused by cancer. For example, you may experience swelling, pain, nipple discharge, or develop a change in the appearance of your breasts. Benign breast disease also includes lumps that are not cancerous.

These are a few examples of benign breast disease:

• Fibrosis
• Simple cysts
• Mastitis
• Duct ectasia
• Adenosis
• Fat necrosis and oil cysts

Some types of benign breast disease, such as fibroadenoma, hyperplasia, and intraductal papilloma, increase your risk of developing breast cancer.

What should I know about breast cancer?

Breast cancer is often detected when you or your gynecologist discover a lump. However, you may also experience:

• Changes in the size, shape, or appearance of your breast
• Changes in the appearance of the skin over your breast
• Peeling or crusting in the skin around your nipple
• Discharge from your nipple
• Painful or burning sensation
• Newly inverted nipple

Recognizing all the symptoms is important because it gives you the chance to catch breast cancer at an early stage while it’s curable.

How do surgeons treat breast disease?

The team at South Florida Surgical Group has extensive experience treating breast disease, customizing your treatment to the type of disease and your symptoms. Since there are so many possible breast conditions, there are also numerous potential treatments, ranging from draining cyst fluid or an abscess to removing a benign breast mass.

Treatment for breast cancer usually involves one of two types of surgery. If the cancer is confined to the tumor, you may be a good candidate for breast-conserving surgery (lumpectomy) to remove only the cancerous mass. 

When the cancer has spread into your breast, you’ll need a mastectomy to remove the entire breast. Many women combine their cancer surgery with plastic surgery to immediately reconstruct their breast.

If you need treatment for breast disease, call South Florida Surgical Group for a same- or next-day appointment or use the online booking feature.