Fibrocystic Breasts in Women
October 21, 2009
Fibrocystic breast is otherwise called fibrous breast. This is a non cancerous condition in the breast tissues. This affects the women between the age of 30 and 50 and it causes pain, tenderness, lumpiness etc in the breast.
About 60 percent of women in their pre-menopausal period may experience this problem. Having a fibrocystic breast does not means that you are prone to get a breast cancer. But fibrocystic breast makes it difficult to find out the cancerous lumps in the breast.
Causes of Fibrocystic Breast
Fibrocystic breast occurs due to the changes of the hormonal levels in a woman. Mainly the concentration of progesterone and estrogen are responsible for these problems. During every menstrual cycle the hormonal changes cause changes in the connective and glandular tissues of the breast.
It increases the cell metabolism, activity of blood vessels, and supporting tissues in the breast. The ducts and milk glands expand and store water in it. Once the menstrual periods gets started the enzymes gets activated and stared to digest many of these cells.
These cells breaks and the fragments formed are scavenged by glandular cells and inflammatory cells. In this process the fragments of broken cells and the inflammation may cause fibrosis and release some hormones which may damage the duct and glandular tissues. The duct gets blocked with this fibrosis and again gets filled up with fluid. This leads to tenderness, swelling, lumps and pain with in the breast.
Symptoms of Fibrocystic Breast
The severity of symptoms may vary in different people because the hormonal changes cause this condition. Some women have severe pain while others have mild pain and swelling. Usually it affects both breast and at times it appears in alternate breast in cyclical manner.
After menopause normally these symptoms stop but if you are taking hormone replacement therapy then it may sustain. The most commonly seen symptoms are swelling, lumpiness, cyst formation, tenderness in the breast and pain. At times there will be discharge through the nipple.
If you are having a fibrocystic breast then you have to follow consult a doctor who can help you in treating with fibrocystic breast disease.
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