Woman With Rare Condition Has Armpits That Leak Milk

A 35-year-old Filipino woman may have one of the weirdest real-life superpowers in the world. In a recent case report, doctors describe how the woman’s armpits are able to produce breast milk.

Dermatologists at the University of the Philippines detailed the unusual medical marvel earlier this fall in the journal JAAD Case Reports. The woman’s milky armpits are the result of being born with extra breast tissue on both sides of her underarms. Despite some added hassle following her pregnancies, however, the added breasts don’t seem to be harming her health.

An “uncommon entityâ€

According to the report, the woman first began to notice something was different about her armpits 15 years ago.

Immediately after her first pregnancy, her armpits began to swell up and produce “milky secretions from the overlying hair follicles.†The phenomenon disappeared once she weaned her child away from breastfeeding but returned after each successive pregnancy, which prompted her latest visit to the doctors. She didn’t experience any other concerning trouble, such as redness, but the “engorgement†of her armpits did seem to get worse with each child she had.

The doctors determined that her armpits contained ectopic breast tissue—â€ectopic†meaning the presence of a body part where it normally shouldn’t be. The condition is present since birth but typically goes unnoticed until the same hormonal changes that affect normal breast tissue, such as puberty or pregnancy, can affect it, too. Usually, as in this case, the extra breasts aren’t accompanied by areolas or nipples.

As you might expect, having an extra breast or two is an exceptionally rare condition.

“Ectopic breast tissue is an uncommon entity,†the doctors wrote, noting it’s only found in around 2% to 6% of women and 1% to 3% of men. Most cases are sporadic, or happen randomly, but about 6% are tied to inherited genetics.

Watchful monitoring

There is some evidence to suggest that ectopic breast tissue is more likely to become cancerous than usual, according to the doctors. Notwithstanding that possibility, the tissue can still develop the same problems that can plague a normal breast, such as mastitis (an inflamed mammary gland). But the doctors’ tests found no reasons to be concerned for the time being. And since her armpits have gone back to normal every time after she stopped breastfeeding, she decided to not seek the removal of her tissue.

The doctors did recommend that she regularly have follow-up visits to keep an eye on her armpits, along with her routine breast cancer screenings. “Proper work-up is prudent due to its potential for developing benign and malignant breast conditions,†they wrote. “Management is conservative unless symptomatic and with cosmetic concerns.â€

On one hand, I can imagine how weird it would be to have your armpits suddenly lactating for no apparent reason. But on the other, that’d be one hell of a parlor trick to bust out at my next party.