Please Help! Redness on Breasts

[sweetieinva]

Hi everyone, I am 18 weeks pregnant with twins. I have been having this issue for the past week or two. On both breasts (on the inside where they would rub together) I have a red area about the size of a dollar bill. It does not hurt, itch, or anything else, just redness with a little bit of warmth sometimes. Not sure if this is from them growing and getting ready for breastfeeding or if this is something I should be worried about? :/

Anyone had any experience with this??

 

[sweetieinva]

Anyone?

 

[wendyc87]

Hey Hun!! I'm 26 weeks pregnant and have had this for over a month or more. I like you thought it was normal pregnancy thing too until I went online and scared myself silly!!! I along with redness and warmth also have with it enlarged looking hair follicles. Now when I googled this the only thing that came up was a rare deadly breast cancer called inflammatory breast cancer!! I basically had a heart attack. The only thing that gave me a little hope was that it was symmetrical on both breasts, and I had read that while it would be theoretically possible it was highly unlikely. I immediately booked an appointment with my ob/gyn and from there she referred me to a breast specialist. I was terrified. I met with the breast specialist and she said she had seen it in pregnant women before and it would go away after birth. That relieved me for about a day, but my mind wouldn't stop thinking and I spiraled into severe depression and anxiety attacks ( this was about three weeks ago) and my ob/gyn has put me on Zoloft, but it still hasn't taken full effect. Anyway, I went back to the breast specialist and basically demanded a skin punch biopsy which I read is the only way they can diagnose this certain cancer. After an excruciating week I got back the results and they were negative for cancer thank god. Sorry for the long story, but I just wanted to give you my advice!!
First stay away from google!!! It gave me too many sleepless nights.
I would go see a breast specialist, even if just for your own peace of mind.
If you are not satisfied with their answers, basically demand a skin punch biopsy of the reddened area, it doesn't hurt at all and will give you the answers you need!!
If you have any questions for me let me know!!

 

[Bmama]

I actually had something like this over the weekend, which started when I bought a new bra. I had tried on a bunch at the store and the only thing I can think of is that the bra materials irritated my skin. I left off a bra for the evening, washed the area good and within a day the redness was gone. I was worried because it looked more like sunburn and was warm, but I just chilled out and watched the area and it eventually disappeared. Try not to google it like Wendy said , and if it doesn't get better or hurts a lot see a Dr for peace of mind

 

[sweetieinva]

Thank you so much! That is the same thing that came up when I googled it...I see my OB
tomorrow so will see what he says and go from there...

 

[wendyc87]

Good luck! I'm sure everything will turn out fine!! Please let us know how it goes!!

 

[sweetieinva]

Hi ladies, just wanted to give you an update. The dr thinks it is a yeast infection....didn't know you could get one there...but he gave me a low dose of Diflucan (one pill today and one Friday) to see....he said he thinks it will clear it up, but if it doesn't get better to call him and we may do a full dose of the medication. Hopefully it is this simple....

 

[Bmama]

wow I didn't know you could get one there either! Hope it gets better for you with the diflucan prescription. Keep us posted!! xxx

 

[amjon]

Hi ladies, just wanted to give you an update. The dr thinks it is a yeast infection....didn't know you could get one there...but he gave me a low dose of Diflucan (one pill today and one Friday) to see....he said he thinks it will clear it up, but if it doesn't get better to call him and we may do a full dose of the medication. Hopefully it is this simple....

I don't think that's safe in pregnancy. Did you look it up yourself or double check with the pharmacist?

 

[sweetieinva]

We talked about it while I was there (he is a high risk OB). It is usually prescribed in higher doses for longer periods of time, but for me, it is a lower dose (150mg) and only two pills. I took the one yesterday and that may clear it up, so I am going to hold off on the second pill. If it doesn't look better by tomorrow I will call to see what alternate things I could use. The problem is they are really red and itchy...so I'm not even sure something OTC would help?

 

[CatherineK]

Glad it's being diagnosed and treated! Diflucan is perfectly safe in pregnancy in one or two low doses. It's considers class c only because I the higher constant doses. No adverse issues reported in light use at all. I alway think it's weird that they won't use it in the UK during pregnancy for yeast. If hate to deal with creams when such a quick easy treatment is available.

 

[sweetieinva]

Catherine, that is exactly what the dr told me. I also read online that usually it is prescribed in 800mg for 7-10 days, so if they do 150mg for 1-2 days I wouldn't think it would be as much of an issue.

My DH says I research too much online. lol When I first looked up "breast redness and warmth during pregnancy" on google, what came up scared the daylights out of me, but luckily dr does not think its anything serious.

I am going tomorrow to find some bigger bras, I think the ones I have now are getting too tight and maybe that has something to do with the yeast infection. (My "girls" have always been big so I'm sure that makes it worse)

Thanks everyone for the input!

 

[CatherineK]

If taken diflucan in all my pregnancies once or twice in small pregnancies. My doc told me that other counties don't use it as much mainly because it is much more costly than cream treatment? Don't know if that's true or not...

 

[babyhopes2010]

diflucan is fine during pregnancy altho i always check with pharmacist.

i was given it 37 weeks

 

[Nela]

Catherine, that is exactly what the dr told me. I also read online that usually it is prescribed in 800mg for 7-10 days, so if they do 150mg for 1-2 days I wouldn't think it would be as much of an issue.

My DH says I research too much online. lol When I first looked up "breast redness and warmth during pregnancy" on google, what came up scared the daylights out of me, but luckily dr does not think its anything serious.

I am going tomorrow to find some bigger bras, I think the ones I have now are getting too tight and maybe that has something to do with the yeast infection. (My "girls" have always been big so I'm sure that makes it worse)

Thanks everyone for the input!

Proper support to help 'lift' the girls will help as well. If they sag some, your skin won't be able to breathe on the underside and that's usually the cause I believe. I have found the minimizer bras to help a lot with that and avoid all the memory foam and thicker materials at the bottom so that my skin can breathe better. When it's particularly warm, I put a tad bit of deodorant to help from sweating too much there.

 

[sweetieinva]

Good advice about the supportive bras...I was wearing my underwire bras, but they were getting too small, so I switched to a larger sports bra I had, which was comfortable at first, but now that is getting too tight, and I'm wondering if the material is not good. Definitely looking for something better!!