Should I be concerned?

For approximately 4 weeks, the skin over the upper-outer quarter of one areola has been rough, dry, and itchy. I try not to scratch or otherwise irritate it, but the area is very sensitive and becomes painful if touched or rubbed.  Should I be concerned?

[CCF-RN,MSN-JS]

Dear Jean, It's difficult to say what this might be without further evaluation.  As this has been of concern to you now for 4 weeks and has not gotten better, you may want to have your doctor take a look at it and make an assessment.  

If you're asking is this a symptom of breast cancer, scaling of the nipple can be a symptom of Paget's disease, a form of localized nipple cancer.  This is a very rare disease.

[KimG]

I have the same problem and now it's on both areolas.  I've had it on and off for several months actually.  

I'm in the process of finding a new gyno and once I do, I'm going to have it looked at. I have a skin condition in my ear so I'm thinking the two are related.

At one point, I was convinced I had Paget's Disease or some other form of breast cancer.