Post Date June, 28 2023
Nipple retraction is a common condition in women's breasts and has a serious impact on women. Many expectant mothers are also concerned about future breastfeeding issues and need to pay attention to corrective methods.
Does nipple retraction affect lactation
Generally speaking, mild nipple retraction does not affect normal breastfeeding, while severe cases may affect breastfeeding. If the nipples are only slightly flat or umbilical shaped, there is no need to worry about breastfeeding. Although there may be some difficulties at the beginning of breastfeeding, it is still advisable to persist in breastfeeding.
The hazards of nipple retraction
1. Influence on breastfeeding: no matter the nipple is flat, invaginated or everted, it will make breastfeeding inconvenient. If the nipple is dysplasia, especially invaginated, it will affect the sucking of the newborn, making it difficult to breastfeed normally. In addition, due to inverted nipples, newborns cannot contain nipples and milk cannot be sucked out, making them prone to dehydration. Patients with inverted nipples experience enlarged breasts during pregnancy, resulting in increased milk secretion and severe inverted nipples. Mothers also give up breastfeeding due to their own reasons.
2. Affects breast aesthetics: nipple retraction affects the health and aesthetics of women's breasts, loses curve aesthetics, and affects the overall image of women.
3. Impact on sexual life: The nipple is also one of the sensitive points for women, and nipple stimulation can also help women reach orgasm. The inverted nipple can make it difficult for women to obtain effective sexual stimulation, and even affect men's sexual desire.
4. Impact on patients' mental health: Women with inverted nipples often feel uneasy, lack confidence, and worry excessively, which seriously affects women's mental health.
5. Impact on the physical health of infants and postpartum recovery of women: nipple retraction prevents infants from receiving sufficient breast milk, which can affect their physical development and also affect their health. For new mothers, postpartum recovery can also be affected.
6. Causes diseases such as nipple areola inflammation and mastitis: Long term nipple invagination compresses the lymphatic vessels under the areola, causing lymphatic reflux disorders and penetrating collagen tissue. In addition, nipple invagination causes epidermal cells and areolar secretions that detach from the nipple surface to not be cleared in a timely manner, stimulating the nipple skin and causing nipple areola inflammation. Severe cases can lead to mucosal degeneration and eczema of the invaginated skin, and some patients may experience erosion, bleeding, and chronic inflammation. The mammary duct leads to invagination, and inflammation spreads back into the breast, causing mastitis. If corrected in a timely manner, long-term stimulation can lead to the contraction of the breast duct due to chronic inflammation, causing more severe invagination and forming a vicious cycle.
