Can You Lactate from Areas Outside Your Breasts?

Short answer: Yes. Ectopic lactation can occur when mammary tissue grows in different areas of your body. Learn how it works in this episode of BrainStuff.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio, Hey
brain Stuff Lauren Vogel bomb here. Pregnancy and motherhood are
two of the most challenging experiences life can throw at
a person, and while neither is ever easy, unique complications
can make the inherently tough situations exponentially tougher. Case in point,
a twenty nine year old woman in Austria who developed

(00:24):
a super rare case of a topic breast tissue that
caused her to lactate from an unexpected area her volva. Confused,
it's safe to assume the woman experiencing it was too.
It all started soon after she gave birth to her
second child. A severe pain developed in the right side
of her vulva, which doctors assumed was related to the
sutures she had received after the birth. They figured her

(00:46):
pain and excessive swelling were due to an abscess, but
there was another odd symptom that didn't quite line up
with their theory. A milky white fluid was being released
from the area. It turns out the woman had experienced
similar symptoms after the birth of her first child, and
when doctors performed an ultrasound, the answer became clear. There
was breast tissue growing on her volva. Believe it or not,

(01:08):
this is a real condition that can happen to anyone,
albeit it doesn't happen very often. A topic breast tissue,
also known as accessory breast tissue, is breast tissue that
develops anywhere outside the breasts and can be found in
about six percent of the population. Ectopic simply means occurring
in an abnormal place or position. According to a report
published in the journal Upsettrics and Gynecology, which detailed the

(01:30):
case of the woman mentioned above quote, A topic breast tissue,
defined as memory glands located outside of the breast, arises
from remnants of the embryonic milk line or memory ridge.
Let's break that down. All mammals, including humans, develop a
memory ridge as embryos. This is the area where nipples
form and where memory glands and breast tissue developed during puberty.

(01:52):
For some Surprisingly though, breast tissue and nipples can actually
develop anywhere along the milk line, which runs from the
armpits to the growing on both sides of the body.
If you've ever heard of someone having a third nipple
like Chandler Bing's nubbin on the show Friends, ectopic breast
tissue is the cause. This sort of situation is rare,
but it happens, and it's not often even discovered until

(02:13):
problems arise, like in the case of the Austrian mom.
In her case, the swelling and pain was a result
of a condition called galactos stasis, which means milk backs
up and causes pain. It turns out the women's stitches
were covering an excretory duct, so the milk really had
nowhere to go. Once doctors removed the sutures, her pain
immediately went away, and the swelling and milk discharged from

(02:35):
the vulva gradually diminished over the next two weeks. She's
been able to breastfeed normally for the time being, but
doctors say they may have to consider removing the tissue
in the future. While there's no standard treatment required for
asymptomatic topic breast tissue, it is possible for it to
become cancerous, so surveillance and eventual removal may be necessary.
The moral of the story, get to know the potential

(02:57):
weirdnesses of the human body and don't be a aid
to raise concerns with your doctor if any of that
potential is realized. Today's episode. We're written by Michelle Konstantinovski
and produced by Tyler Clang. Brain Stuff is a production
of I Heart Radio's How Stuff Works. For more in
this and lots of other unusual topics, visit our home planet,

(03:18):
how stuff works dot com and for more podcasts from
my heart Radio was at the I heart Radio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.