A breast lump is a growth of tissue that grows within your breast. A breast lump is often interchangeably described as a mass, swelling, growth, fullness or thickness. A breast lump can feel clearly and have definite borders, or it could be a thickened area in your breast that is slightly more prominent from the normal breast tissue.

A woman may notice other breast changes accompanying a breast lump, such as distension, skin redness, pitting or dimpling. You may also observe breast asymmetry or nipple inversion, breast pain or unusual nipple discharge.

Breast lump could be a sign of breast cancer. That’s why women with breast lump should seek prompt medical evaluation. Luckily, most breast lumps come from noncancerous conditions. Below are common causes of breast lump:

  1. Normal swelling – Breasts may change throughout menstrual cycle each month because of the hormones. At least half of all women who have menstrual cycle will have some tenderness, lumpiness, and pain in their breasts at some time in the month. This is usually most obvious in the week before your period. Usually the pain quickly disappears when the period starts.
  2. Infection – Mastitis is an infection of the tissue of the breast that occurs most frequently during the time of breastfeeding. This infection causes swelling, pain, redness, and increased temperature of the breast. Infection can occur when bacteria, often from the baby’s mouth, enter a milk duct through a crack in the nipple. These bacteria often from baby’s mouth and may cause painful inflammation of the breast.
  3. Fibroadenoma – A fibroadenoma is a small tumor in the breast. They often develop in adolescent women and those in their early 20, but can occur at any age. These lumps are not related with breast cancer.
  4. Breast cancer – Most women discover that they have breast cancer after noticing a lump in the breast. There are separate leaflets on ‘Breast Cancer’ and ‘Breast Cancer – Hereditary Factors’.
  5. Fat necrosis – Trauma or injury to the common_causes_breast_lumpfatty tissue in your breast can cause a lump. These lumps usually heal and go away of their own accord.
  6. Lipoma – This is a fatty growth that develops within the fatty tissue of your breast. It is non-cancerous and usually does not need any treatment.
  7. Cysts – Breast cysts commonly occur in women who have not gone through the menopause. The cyst may go disappear completely with aspiration. This is where a needle is used to drain the fluid from the cyst.
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