Smoking May Lead To Breast Abscess

According to a study, women who smoke or pierce their nipples are more likely to develop Breast Abscess. Breast Abscess, is when pus gets filled between the hollow spaces in the breast. Women suffering from Breast Abscess, suffer breast pain, lump in the breast and hot flushes. In some cases the pus is also discharged through the nipples. The takes a weeks time for it to cure under antibiotics. In more serious cases, the patient needs to go under surgery.

Researchers at the University of Iowa have found higher tendency of breast Abscess among smokers as compared to non smokers. Smokers they found are 11 times more likely to develop subareolar abscess.

Breast abscess always have a tendency to recur after a gap of few years and the relapse was found to be 15 times more likely in smokers than in non smokers. The researchers claim that nipple piercing can also lead to this disease. There are been patients who reported to suffer this disease after a month of piercing their nipple.

"Nearly 60 percent of patients with a recurrence of breast abscess were heavy smokers. Since smoking appears to be a strong risk factor for both causing breast abscess and its recurrence, we recommend patients should be counseled to quit smoking as an integral part of treatment,"said Vinod Gollapalli.

A survey done by University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics researchers, have identified 68 patients from January 1, 2004, to November 1, 2009, suffering from breast abscess who did not have a current or previous history of breast cancer, breast radiation therapy, or breast surgery within the past 12 months.

Of the 68 cases evaluated, 53 patients were identified as Caucasian, 43 were smokers and nine had a history of nipple piercing. Thirty-seven patients (53 percent) needed multiple surgical treatments. Out of 68 patients five patients had developed mammary fistulas and all of these patients were heavy smokers. In their study they have thus concluded that smoking , nipple piercing and the need for surgical treatment are related.