Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio, Hey
Speaker 1: brain Stuff Lauren Vogel bomb here. Pregnancy and motherhood are
Speaker 1: two of the most challenging experiences life can throw at
Speaker 1: a person, and while neither is ever easy, unique complications
Speaker 1: can make the inherently tough situations exponentially tougher. Case in point,
Speaker 1: a twenty nine year old woman in Austria who developed
Speaker 1: a super rare case of a topic breast tissue that
Speaker 1: caused her to lactate from an unexpected area her volva. Confused,
Speaker 1: it's safe to assume the woman experiencing it was too.
Speaker 1: It all started soon after she gave birth to her
Speaker 1: second child. A severe pain developed in the right side
Speaker 1: of her vulva, which doctors assumed was related to the
Speaker 1: sutures she had received after the birth. They figured her
Speaker 1: pain and excessive swelling were due to an abscess, but
Speaker 1: there was another odd symptom that didn't quite line up
Speaker 1: with their theory. A milky white fluid was being released
Speaker 1: from the area. It turns out the woman had experienced
Speaker 1: similar symptoms after the birth of her first child, and
Speaker 1: when doctors performed an ultrasound, the answer became clear. There
Speaker 1: was breast tissue growing on her volva. Believe it or not,
Speaker 1: this is a real condition that can happen to anyone,
Speaker 1: albeit it doesn't happen very often. A topic breast tissue,
Speaker 1: also known as accessory breast tissue, is breast tissue that
Speaker 1: develops anywhere outside the breasts and can be found in
Speaker 1: about six percent of the population. Ectopic simply means occurring
Speaker 1: in an abnormal place or position. According to a report
Speaker 1: published in the journal Upsettrics and Gynecology, which detailed the
Speaker 1: case of the woman mentioned above quote, A topic breast tissue,
Speaker 1: defined as memory glands located outside of the breast, arises
Speaker 1: from remnants of the embryonic milk line or memory ridge.
Speaker 1: Let's break that down. All mammals, including humans, develop a
Speaker 1: memory ridge as embryos. This is the area where nipples
Speaker 1: form and where memory glands and breast tissue developed during puberty.
Speaker 1: For some Surprisingly though, breast tissue and nipples can actually
Speaker 1: develop anywhere along the milk line, which runs from the
Speaker 1: armpits to the growing on both sides of the body.
Speaker 1: If you've ever heard of someone having a third nipple
Speaker 1: like Chandler Bing's nubbin on the show Friends, ectopic breast
Speaker 1: tissue is the cause. This sort of situation is rare,
Speaker 1: but it happens, and it's not often even discovered until
Speaker 1: problems arise, like in the case of the Austrian mom.
Speaker 1: In her case, the swelling and pain was a result
Speaker 1: of a condition called galactos stasis, which means milk backs
Speaker 1: up and causes pain. It turns out the women's stitches
Speaker 1: were covering an excretory duct, so the milk really had
Speaker 1: nowhere to go. Once doctors removed the sutures, her pain
Speaker 1: immediately went away, and the swelling and milk discharged from
Speaker 1: the vulva gradually diminished over the next two weeks. She's
Speaker 1: been able to breastfeed normally for the time being, but
Speaker 1: doctors say they may have to consider removing the tissue
Speaker 1: in the future. While there's no standard treatment required for
Speaker 1: asymptomatic topic breast tissue, it is possible for it to
Speaker 1: become cancerous, so surveillance and eventual removal may be necessary.
Speaker 1: The moral of the story, get to know the potential
Speaker 1: weirdnesses of the human body and don't be a aid
Speaker 1: to raise concerns with your doctor if any of that
Speaker 1: potential is realized. Today's episode. We're written by Michelle Konstantinovski
Speaker 1: and produced by Tyler Clang. Brain Stuff is a production
Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio's How Stuff Works. For more in
Speaker 1: this and lots of other unusual topics, visit our home planet,
Speaker 1: how stuff works dot com and for more podcasts from
Speaker 1: my heart Radio was at the I heart Radio app,
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.