Breast Abscess or IBC?

Slas

I am a 44 year old female, non-breastfeeding, smoker (I know, please no judgement). Yesterday, I awoke with a painful breast. By the end of the day, it was swollen and I could feel a large lump around my nipple (this was overnight as none of this was there the day before). The next morning, it was still swollen and the massive lump had grown into the size of a golf ball. It was painful and it was pink around the lump and the nipple. I felt like the swollen lump in my breast was affecting my whole body. I was feeling achy, didn't generally feel well, and my throat had gotten sore with enlarged nodes on one side of my throat. I immediately contact my gyno. He wanted to see me asap. His immediate impression was that it was a breast abscess. He aspirated the lump, and there was pus followed by blood. He wasn't sure if he had hit a vein or the blood came from a hematoma in the lump. I asked about IBC, because I had been playing "Dr. Google" and was researching my symptoms ahead of time. He said he had only seen one case of IBC in 30 years of practice, and that "one" did not present like this (but he wasn't full of reassurances either). He asked me strange questions like if my husband loved giving attention to my breasts during sex (answer was no). I assume he asked this because I was not breastfeeding and he was looking for a source of infection. I've also never had piercing, etc. He wanted to send off the fluid for testing and refer me to a breast surgeon. I was also prescribed antibiotics for 10 days. I have only taken one...but, I am terrified I won't see any results. At this point, I guess I have convinced myself it is IBC. I don't have the "orange peel" appearance or any itchiness, no inverted nipple, nor do I have the rash like or red hot appearance. Just swollen, painful lump around my nipple that is pink. I don't know....just scared like everyone else. I see the surgeon on Tuesday.

Trishyla

There's a saying among doctors. When you hear hoof beats, think of horses, not zebras. IBC is a zebra. Rare and seldom what you're going to see. An abscess is much more likely what you're looking at. From what I understand, you would never get pus and blood from an IBC affected breast. (I could be wrong on that)

Hopefully someone more knowledgeable will come along soon. In the meantime, STAY AWAY FROM DR. GOOGLE. He is not your friend.

Hope everything works out for you. Stay safe.

Trish

sbelizabeth

The symptoms of inflammatory breast cancer are caused by cancer emboli clogging up the lymphatic channels in the skin of the breast. Occasionally there's a lump associated, but your description of your signs/symptoms in no way match those of inflammatory breast cancer. The generalized illness, enlarging and painful lump, your doctor's aspiration of pus, all point very clearly to a breast abscess.

The question about "giving attention to your breasts" was probably really asking if there was any mouth contact with your nipple. If there's any skin cracks or openings in the skin of the nipple, saliva could transfer bacteria into the deeper tissues and lead to the abscess.

Google doesn't have your emotional best interests at heart, believe me. Anytime someone googles "breast" and almost any other symptom, they're going to come up with inflammatory breast cancer in a result. You wouldn't be the first to have Dr. Google scare the wits out of her.

I hope the initial aspiration and antibiotics do the trick quickly. Of course, anything's possible, so of course you need to follow up with your doctors, but in my humble opinion you're describing an evolving abscess, not cancer.

Trishyla

Great info, sbelizabeth. I knew someone more knowledgeable would come along. I hope the OP comes back to let us know how things turned out.

Slas

Thank you ladies for your responses. After day two of the antibiotic, I am feeling much better. The pink irritation is gone, the breast is decreasing in size, and it's not nearly as painful as before. I think this also points to it being an abscess. I am still going to follow through with my appointment to see the breast surgeon and I am still awaiting the results of the fluid my doctor collected. Thanks again for your input!

MelissaDallas

Do keep your appointment. Breast abscesses and mastitis can be hard to get rid of. Sometimes they need multiple rounds of antibiotics or to be drained. It is a good thing the fluid is being cultured so if one round doesn’t clear it up the culture info will provide further info on antibiotics to use