Help! She is only 13

[tonya3]

  My daughter has irritable bowel disease and last month she developed what the doctors say, is mastitis.  They put her on an antibiotic and all the redness and pain went away.    But.....1 month later the lump is still there bigger then a grape and hard.  Is mastitis normal in a 13 year old.   Her breast looks normal but the lump is still inside.

[PaulMD]

Hi there!

First of all, I understand your concern bout this problem.  Mastitis is not very common in her age group as you see most of these cases in breast-feeding moms.  Your doctor was correct in giving antibiotics and proof of that is the disappearance of the redness and the pain.  The lump however may have several causes.  First, this can be fibrosis resulting from an infection and may really take sometime for it to completely heal.  Second, it could represent a still ongoing infection in the form of an "abscess" in which case antibiotics will be of little help and this should be drained surgically.  Third, if she's already menstruating, this could represent physiologic breast changes called fibrocystic disease or fibroadenoma.

Nevertheless, I strongly advise you to have this checked by her doctor and have a discussion about the possibilities I mentioned above.

Regards and God bless...