she has extra nipples on her body!

A 32-year-old American woman consulted her GP in Chicago for several lesions located on her chest and near her armpits. They have been there for as long as she can remember and are not painful. After all this time, the patient would like to know the origin of these lesions and whether they are malignant or not. The doctor performs auscultation: the four lesions look like molesmoles at first glance, but they are slightly prominent with a slight pink coloring in the center. A biopsy of one of them will allow us to know the nature of these lesions. The doctor and his patient certainly did not expect this result.

6% of the population has more than two nipples

This patient has four supernumerary nipples! A condition called polythelia and which affects around 6% of the world’s population, surprising but not that rare. Supernumerary nipples affect both men and women, even if the latter are more prone to this phenomenon, most of the time benign. They often develop along the mammary ridges, lines that run from above the armpits through the breasts to the pubis and upper inner thigh.

Several symmetrical pairs of budsbuds mammary glands form on its crests during embryogenesis, then only two remain before birth. But in some cases, pairs of additional mammary buds also persist, forming supernumerary nipples – polythelia – or even complete mammary glands – polymastia. More rarely, they can also bud in unusual places, as is the case for this young woman who has one on the arch of her left foot, or this patient who saw a nipple growing… over one of her breast nipples.

Apart from the complexes physicalphysical that polythelia can cause, this condition is not dangerous for health. However, supernumerary nipples can suffer from the same pathologicalpathological as the breast nipples and in the case of polymastia, breast cancers can form in the additional mammary glands in both women and men.