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Symptoms
By Mayo Clinic staff
Paget's disease of the breast affects your nipple and usually the skin (areola) surrounding it. It's easy to mistake the signs and symptoms of Paget's disease of the breast for skin irritation (dermatitis) or another noncancerous (benign) skin condition.
Possible signs and symptoms of Paget's disease of the breast include:
- Flaky or scaly skin on your nipple
- Crusty, oozing or hardened skin resembling eczema on the nipple, areola or both
- Itching
- Redness
- A tingling or burning sensation
- Straw-colored or bloody nipple discharge
- A flattened or turned-in nipple
- A lump in the breast
- Thickening skin on the breast
Signs and symptoms usually occur in one breast only. The disease typically starts in the nipple and may spread to the areola and other areas of the breast. In rare cases, only the areola is affected.
The skin changes may fluctuate early on, making it appear as if your skin is healing on its own. On average, women experience signs and symptoms for six to eight months before a diagnosis is made.
When to see a doctor
Check your nipple and areola on both breasts on a regular basis, such as during breast self-exams. If you feel a lump, or if you experience itching or skin irritation that persists for more than a month, see your doctor.
If you're being treated for a skin injury on your breast, and the condition doesn't go away with treatment, make a follow-up appointment with your doctor. You may need a biopsy — a procedure that collects a small tissue sample for microscopic analysis — to evaluate the affected area.
- Sabel MS, et al. Paget disease of the breast. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Aug. 4, 2010.
- Paget disease of the nipple: Questions and answers. National Cancer Institute. http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Sites-Types/pagets-breast. Accessed Aug. 4, 2010.
- Abeloff MD, et al. Cancer of the breast. In: Abeloff MD, et al. Clinical Oncology. 4th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Elsevier Churchill Livingstone; 2008. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/100861143-2/0/1241/895.html?tocnode=51163917&fromURL=895.html#4-u1.0-B0-443-06629-9..50099-3--cesec126_4227. Accessed Aug. 4, 2010.
- Nicholson BT, et al. Nipple-areolar complex: normal anatomy and benign and malignant processes. RadioGraphics. 2009;29:509.
- Estimating breast cancer risk: Questions and answers. National Cancer Institute. http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/estimating-breast-cancer-risk. Accessed July 30, 2008.
- What are the risk factors for breast cancer? American Cancer Society. http://www.cancer.org/docroot/CRI/content/CRI_2_4_2X_What_are_the_risk_factors_for_breast_cancer_5.asp?sitearea. Accessed Aug. 5, 2010.
- Morrogh M, et al. MRI identifies otherwise occult disease in select patients with Paget disease of the nipple. Journal of the American College of Surgeons. 2008;206:316.
- Caliskan M, et al. Paget's disease of the breast: The experience of the European institute of oncology and review of the literature. Breast Cancer Research and Treatment. http://www.springerlink.com/content/6270v27346461v08/. Accessed Aug. 5, 2010.
- Can breast cancer be prevented? American Cancer Society. http://www.cancer.org/Cancer/BreastCancer/OverviewGuide/breast-cancer-overview-prevention. Accessed Aug. 5, 2010.
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