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White fibers coming from the breasts
This has been going on for maybe two years now, and it's really bugging me. There are these tiny white fibers that poke up from the skin on my breasts that I can easily pull out. They're almost hard when I run my hand over them while they're still in the skin. The pores on my breasts are always really amplified and obvious, and I'm not sure if that's a contributing factor. Sometimes when I remove one of these fibers, there's a hole left behind, which opens up into a sore that bleeds and sometimes leaks pus. It can stay open for weeks, but it doesn't itch or hurt. It just sits there, bright red and gooey. They usually go away, but they're leaving a lot of scars. I'm not sure if this is a common issue among women with larger breasts, and I'm not sure if I should mention it to my doctor again. I've had it checked out before, and even had a biopsy done on one of the sores. Really all the biopsy showed was that it was "not cancer" and nothing else. My doctors hear that I've had a biopsy done on it and brush the problem aside. Not only is the problem bothersome, but it's really starting to affect my self-esteem and self-image. Does anyone know what might be wrong with my breasts, or how I can fix it? I wash my breasts thoroughly every time I shower (every other day and the occasional extra), I'm 19 and I'm a size F if that helps.
I think it’s a form of KP (keratosis pilaris). I have them, too. Moisturizers with AHA and BHA seem to help over time, but I still get flare ups.
Sounds like Morgellons Disease to me. And that is one VERY mysterious disease, with a lot of controversy about what it actually is.
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Are you sure they are fibers, as in, from fabric? If so, have you checked the insides of your bra with a magnifying glass, to make sure the fabric or the liner is not eroding?
When I was nursing, I would get lots of little dried milk bits in the wrinkles and crevices of the tip of the nipple. It's not even obvious that nipples have crevices unless you look with a magnifying mirror, but if I would break off a Q-tip (so the soft white cardboard stick was the end, not the cotton) and (watching in a magnifying mirror) slightly dig into the nipple, up would come a lot of those, and the end of the nipple would feel better after I did that. It kind of acted like paste, probably kept the nipple and its ducts from being able to naturally sweat and shed off skin cells, etc.
Possibly you're getting something similar, not with breast milk but with skin oils and salts. Even when I wasn't nursing, using that technique sometimes if my nipple felt a little painful or blocked, there was always some salt or dried oil or whatever it is, in the crevices. If you are large busted, it might be even more likely that sweat and skin oil could play a role. If you decide to try to clean out the crevices, use something gentle, like the (white cardboard) stick of a Q-tip, or maybe the end of one of those toothpicks that has a square end (not the pointy end), and just gently run it across the nipple and see if something comes loose. If what is happening is that the nipple is getting blocked by natural oils, dead skin cells and salts, no wonder it might get irritated over time.
When I was nursing, I would get lots of little dried milk bits in the wrinkles and crevices of the tip of the nipple. It's not even obvious that nipples have crevices unless you look with a magnifying mirror, but if I would break off a Q-tip (so the soft white cardboard stick was the end, not the cotton) and (watching in a magnifying mirror) slightly dig into the nipple, up would come a lot of those, and the end of the nipple would feel better after I did that. It kind of acted like paste, probably kept the nipple and its ducts from being able to naturally sweat and shed off skin cells, etc.
Possibly you're getting something similar, not with breast milk but with skin oils and salts. Even when I wasn't nursing, using that technique sometimes if my nipple felt a little painful or blocked, there was always some salt or dried oil or whatever it is, in the crevices. If you are large busted, it might be even more likely that sweat and skin oil could play a role. If you decide to try to clean out the crevices, use something gentle, like the (white cardboard) stick of a Q-tip, or maybe the end of one of those toothpicks that has a square end (not the pointy end), and just gently run it across the nipple and see if something comes loose. If what is happening is that the nipple is getting blocked by natural oils, dead skin cells and salts, no wonder it might get irritated over time.
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I don't wear bras due to the large size of my breasts, and I'm not pregnant/nursing, and it actually isn't on my nipple.
If you don't wear bras and this is not the nipples but the breasts, I tend to agree with RockRose in thinking it sounds like Morgellons Disease. There is a good link online:
https://www.healthline.com/health/morgellons-disease#treatment
Here is from that link:
"The appropriate medical treatment for Morgellons Disease is not yet clear, but there are two main treatment approaches based on what your doctor thinks is causing the problem.
"Doctors who think MD is caused by an infection may treat you with several antibiotics for a long time. This may kill the bacteria and heal the skin sores. If you have anxiety, stress, or other mental health problems, or if you develop them from coping with the MD, you may also be treated with psychiatric medications or psychotherapy.
"If your doctor thinks your condition is caused by a mental health problem, you may be treated with psychiatric medications or psychotherapy alone."
The most interesting points to me in the article were that there is some thinking that this is caused by a tick bite that puts a bacteria into the body, and that when they have done analysis, they have found that the fibers in the skin were cotton. Since someone can't manufacture cotton in the body, it's hard to see how any doctor would consider it just a psychological problem.
https://www.healthline.com/health/morgellons-disease#treatment
Here is from that link:
"The appropriate medical treatment for Morgellons Disease is not yet clear, but there are two main treatment approaches based on what your doctor thinks is causing the problem.
"Doctors who think MD is caused by an infection may treat you with several antibiotics for a long time. This may kill the bacteria and heal the skin sores. If you have anxiety, stress, or other mental health problems, or if you develop them from coping with the MD, you may also be treated with psychiatric medications or psychotherapy.
"If your doctor thinks your condition is caused by a mental health problem, you may be treated with psychiatric medications or psychotherapy alone."
The most interesting points to me in the article were that there is some thinking that this is caused by a tick bite that puts a bacteria into the body, and that when they have done analysis, they have found that the fibers in the skin were cotton. Since someone can't manufacture cotton in the body, it's hard to see how any doctor would consider it just a psychological problem.
The following article is really good, too, and says the fibers aren't cotton, according to the FBI'S lab.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3047951/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3047951/
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