Most people associate breast abnormalities with breast cancer. However, not all breast disorders are cancerous. There are many benign (non-cancerous) breast conditions.
What is a benign breast condition?
A benign breast condition is a lump, cyst, or nipple discharge (fluid) in a woman’s or male’s breast that is not cancerous. For women, the most common ones are:
- Cystic breast changes: Fibrosis feels like scar tissue and can be flexible and firm.
- Cysts: These are fluid-filled sacs. They can become enlarged and tender just before your period.
- Fibroids: These are the most common breast lumps in young women and are usually small.
- Mastitis: Your breasts may be enlarged due to an infection. This can happen to anyone, but it most often occurs while breastfeeding.
- Fat necrosis: These tumors form when areas of breast fatty tissue are damaged.
- Calcification: Small spots of calcium salts can appear anywhere in the breast tissue. Usually, you can’t feel them, and they’re not painful.
- nipple discharge: Your nipples can leak fluid for various reasons.
- Hyperplasia, adenosis, intraductal papilloma, and lipoma comprise primarily fatty tissue.
Less common types of benign breast conditions include:
- Atypical hyperplasia: This is abnormal cell proliferation in the breast.
- Adenosis: The lobules in your breast may enlarge and contain more glands than usual.
- Endothelial papilloma: Small lumps can form in the milk ducts in your nipples.
Women’s breasts are very complex. They are filled with glands (the milk-producing organs in women who have given birth), fat, and fibrous (connective) tissue. Each breast has 15 to 20 lobes (small sections) of glands and fibrous tissue.
Men can also have breast problems, although they are rare. The most common benign breast condition in men is gynecomastia. This condition causes enlarged breast tissue.
Symptoms of Benign Breast Conditions
Some benign breast diseases will cause pain. Some will be undetectable unless you feel a lump or your doctor sees it during a routine mammogram (a test designed for mammograms).
Here are the common symptoms of each condition:
- Cystic breast changes: Your breasts will feel lumpy. These tumors comprise a thick, rubbery-like fibrous tissue or a fluid-filled cyst.
- Cysts: These fluid-filled lumps in your breast may soften when you touch them. You may notice them come and go each time you get your period.
- Fibroadenoma: These will look like a small, round, moving marble in your breast.
- Mastitis: You may feel a lump. The tumor may be red, warm, and painful. People diagnosed with mastitis often have a fever.
- Fat necrosis: This lump may feel round and hard. It occurs when fatty tissue becomes hard. It is common in highly overweight women. Sometimes, these lumps are the result of an injury to your breast. It can be filled with liquid fat.
- Calcification: You may or may not feel these small, hard spots. They are caused by residual calcium deposits, which harden in your breasts. Eating or drinking too much calcium does not cause it. Most are benign. However, some calcifications can be a sign of cancer.
- Nipple discharge: The fluid from your nipples may be a different color. A transparent or milky color indicates a problem with your hormones. The discharge may be due to a blocked milk duct if it is greenish-black. If the discharge is bloody, it could be related to injury, infection, or a benign tumor. It may also be linked to breast cancer.
- Hyperplasia, adenosis, intraductal papilloma, and lipoma: You may experience pain and lumps with these less common, benign breast conditions.
- Gynecomastia: Men’s breasts may feel swollen and tender when diagnosed with this condition. Often, however, they may have no symptoms.
What causes benign breast conditions?
Several factors cause benign breast conditions. Those factors include the makeup of your breasts (fat versus dense or dense), age, and hormonal issues. Hormone therapy, birth control pills, pregnancy, menopause, being overweight, infections, and breastfeeding can also cause them. The exact cause can often be traced back to your specific diagnosis.
A hormonal imbalance causes breast enlargement in men. It can also be caused by hormone therapy, certain diseases, and being severely overweight.
How is a benign breast condition diagnosed?
You may notice something different about your breasts. Sometimes, your doctor will find a problem during a routine exam or screening. When you see your doctor, they’ll ask questions about what you’re going through. Your doctor will ask about your family history of breast cancer and physically examine your breasts (with their own hands).
Further testing may be needed to rule out cancer. These tests may include mammograms or ultrasounds. Ultrasound technology allows your doctor to look inside your breasts by moving a small wand-like device around their outside.
Your doctor may also recommend surgery to remove the tumor, biopsy, or fine-needle aspiration. It is a procedure where a thin needle connected to a syringe is inserted into the tumor to remove a sample of tissue or fluid from the cancer. Surgery and biopsies are done in the hospital. Your biopsy will be sent to a lab for examination. All test results will be sent to your doctor. They will call you with the results.
If the results of a physical exam and fine-needle biopsy diagnose a breast condition as benign, a follow-up physical examination is recommended in 4 to 6 weeks.
Can benign breast conditions be prevented or avoided?
Benign breast conditions cannot be prevented or avoided. Your family genes have the most significant impact on your breast health. However, you can reduce your risk for certain conditions. For example, consider losing weight if your benign breast condition is caused by being overweight. Talk to your doctor about other medication options if it’s due to hormones or birth control pills. Sometimes, your doctor may suggest that you take birth control pills to reduce certain types of benign breast disease.
Treatment for benign breast conditions
- Cystic breast changes: Your doctor may recommend taking birth control pills to reduce fluid buildup.
- Fibroadenoma: Because this often involves oral contraceptives, your doctor may recommend an alternative method of birth control. If the condition causes pain, your doctor may surgically remove the tumor. Your doctor may leave it alone if it doesn’t hurt or grow.
- Cysts: Your doctor may use a fine needle to draw out some of the fluid, making the cyst painful. If it’s a chronic problem, your doctor may surgically remove the cyst.
- Mastitis: Since this is an infection, your doctor will prescribe medication, recommend over-the-counter pain relievers to bring down the fever, and suggest placing a warm cloth over the lump to ease the pain.
- Fat necrosis: Usually, fat necrosis does not require further treatment. If it contains fluid (called an oil cyst), your doctor will likely drain the fluid out of the cyst with fine-needle aspiration.
- Calcification: Your doctor may look at these small white spots on your mammogram. If the sites don’t look like cancer, they probably won’t do anything else. If they look like cancer, your doctor may do (or recommend) a fine-needle biopsy or surgery.
- Vipple discharge: Treatment will depend on the underlying cause of nipple discharge (lump, infection, or cancer).
- Hyperplasia, adenosis, intraductal papilloma, and lipoma: Your doctor may recommend surgical removal based on your pain and discomfort.
- Gynecomastia: This does not require treatment unless it is painful. Some men choose to have tissue reduction surgery or hormones
Living with a benign breast condition
The tenderness and tenderness of benign breast conditions can be uncomfortable. Your sleeping position and clothing can affect your pain level.
Living with a benign breast condition can also be emotionally challenging. Many women worry that a noncancerous lump will become cancerous. While that’s unlikely, there’s a slight chance it could happen. Your doctor may recommend regular breast exams. That can increase your anxiety and worry. It can also be expensive.