Health Topic

Breast Diseases

Breast changes such as lumps, bumps, and discharge are common. Some causes can be aging, hormones, or medicines. Learn about symptoms and treatments.

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Important: This page is general information, not medical advice. It does not recommend or prescribe any treatment. Always consult your doctor or pharmacist before starting, stopping or changing any medicine.

About Breast Diseases

Breast diseases include various conditions and changes in your breast. Most women experience breast changes at some time. Your age, hormone levels, and medicines you take may cause lumps, bumps, and discharges of fluids that are not breast milk.

Although many women fear cancer, most breast changes are benign, meaning they are not cancer. These breast changes are known as benign breast disease. See your health care provider if you have a breast lump, pain, discharge, or skin irritation. Minor and serious breast problems often have similar symptoms and may need treatment.

Common breast changes and conditions can include:

  • Fibrocystic breast changes can include lumpiness, thickening, and swelling, often just before your period. Your breasts may feel painful, swollen, or tender.
  • Cysts are fluid-filled lumps that may be tender.
  • Fibroadenomas are solid, round, rubbery lumps that easily move when pushed, occurring most in younger women.
  • Intraductal papillomas are wart-like benign tumors that grow in the milk duct of the breast.
  • Blocked milk ducts.
  • Milk production when you're not breastfeeding.

Symptoms depend on the type of breast disease. Benign breast diseases may not have any symptoms, or they could include:

  • A lump or firm feeling in your breast or under your arm
  • A change in the size or shape of your breast
  • Nipple discharge
  • Skin changes such as itching, redness or darkening, dimples, scaling, or puckering on your breast or nipple
  • Painful, swollen, or tender breasts

See your provider if you're noticing any of these symptoms or other unusual changes. Some symptoms may be warning signs or symptoms of breast cancer.

Some breast changes may be felt or seen. You may notice a change in your breast, or your provider may notice it during a clinical breast exam. Other breast changes may only be found during a screening mammogram or other imaging tests such as an MRI or ultrasound. Your provider may also recommend a breast biopsy to check a suspicious change in your breast.

Some benign breast changes may increase your risk of breast cancer in the future and may need treatment now. Treatment depends on the type of breast disease that you have. Some breast changes may go away without treatment, while others may require monitoring, biopsy, or surgery.

It sits within Women and Female Reproductive System.

When to speak to someone. Reading about a topic cannot tell you whether it applies to you. Speak to a doctor or pharmacist if symptoms are severe, sudden, getting worse, or simply not going away — and seek emergency care immediately for chest pain, breathing difficulty, sudden weakness or confusion, or a serious allergic reaction.

Research on Breast Diseases

15,568 studies areregistered for this condition on ClinicalTrials.gov, the U.S. National Library of Medicine's public registry. A selection is below — the links go straight to the registry entry, not to a summary of ours.

What a registered study does and does not mean. Registration means a study exists and has been declared publicly. It says nothing about whether the treatment being tested works, is safe, or is available to you. Many studies find no benefit — that is what research is for. Never seek out an experimental treatment on the strength of a registry entry alone.

Research currently under way

Research already completed

Study data from ClinicalTrials.gov, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Retrieved 2026-07-30. Registry entries are supplied by study sponsors and investigators; ClinicalTrials.gov does not verify their scientific validity. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH.

Where to read more

Rather than paraphrase, we point you to the primary sources. Every link below is to a government health agency, a national institute or a recognised medical body — grouped by what you are trying to find out.

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Diagnosis and Tests

Clinical Trials

Medical subject headings

Clinicians and researchers index this subject under Breast Diseases, Mastitis, Mastodynia, Breast Cyst. These are the terms to use when searching medical literature.

This page is built from the MedlinePlus health topic record for Breast Diseases, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health. Information is from MedlinePlus.gov. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and is not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH. Retrieved 30 July 2026.