Breast Abscess? Advice Welcome - Especially from Healthcare Professionals!

[KittensandPerverts]

Before I ask for for advice I just need to say that I'm an extremely stoic person who just gets on with medical stuff without a fuss. I myself found a breast lump a few years ago and I just remained calm while I went through the process of getting it checked and it turned out to be nothing. When my friends are going through medical worries I always keep them positive and steer them away from any negative thoughts because I think this can make things worse.

A good friend of mine found a lump in her breast at the weekend and she managed to get an emergency GP appointment after hours yesterday. She was relieved to get in touch with me last night to say that the GP (male - if that makes any difference) has diagnosed her with a breast abscess and has given her some antibiotics so she's very relieved. I have said that I'm relieved for her.

However for some reason this has played on my mind. She's not showing any signs of infection; she's not feverish or generally unwell. She's completely fine in herself and I'm just wondering how a GP can tell that the lump is an abscess, especially as she's not breastfeeding and even though she had children many years ago she didn't breastfeed then either. Of course I will say nothing to my friend but I was assuming that she would have been sent for investigative testing. I was just asking for some advice here from anyone who's been through similar because it's so unlike me for this to play on my mind.

Hi, not sure if it helps but I had a abscess following a bout of mastitis. Unfortunately for me I don't show any normal signs of infections which is why it got so bad (not sure if that's concerning in itself!?). My abscess was diagnosed as it was obviously very close to the skin and protruding so possibly it was similar? Although I was told that mine was at risk of rupture and I was sent to have it drained the same day

I suppose she should notice pretty quickly if it goes down with the antibiotics so maybe just check in with her in a few days and see if it is going down.

Thank you that's perfect! I'm not going to say anything to her now but I'll check in at the end of the week. I hope you're well now.

Yeah I recovered really quickly after it was drained, just took a bit to heal which was awkward when feeding but totally fine now.

Hope your friend is OK too

This happened to me too after DD1. Abscess started poking through the skin and GP sent me straight to the hospital (I was away from home at DPs' house). I was operated on the same night. In hospital on IV drip for a couple of days then went home. I still have a scar just above my nipple.

I had one, it was hot to the touch and red and came up like this
Basically gradually got larger and larger until the pain was fucking awful and I ended up on antibiotics. Also started weeping a bit

I'm not medical, but I would think that GP's can tell quite a lot by the feel of the lump. I've had breast cancer and my GP examined me and was on the phone straight away making me a 2 week referral. He told me he was pretty sure it was cancer and he was correct. I would guess some lumps are obviously cancer some are very unlikely to be cancer and some are undetermined and get checked out to be certain.

Having said that if definitely check up with your friend that the anti Bs have worked, and if they haven't they may well end her for further tests, but most lumps are something other than cancer which may reassure her.

I currently have one - went to the doctor on Friday who gave me antibiotics but also sent me straight to A&E. They did blood tests and referred me to the breast clinic who called me at 9am Monday to go in immediately. It actually burst on it's own on Sunday night.....was disgusting but the relief was amazing! I went to the breast clinic on Monday and they did a scan and swab, didn't think it needed further draining and dressed it, and I have a follow up appointment on Friday.

I have to say that I would be wary of a diagnosis of an abscess with no other symptoms than a lump. I was in agony, had visible inflamation and swelling, and very hot to the touch. I am still in pain now and I think there is some residual infection that the antibiotics are not shifting, which hopefully the breast clinic will deal with on Friday.

I would get your friend to request a second opinion.

How old is your friend? There are slightly different referral guidelines for breast lumps for those <30 years.

If no other symptoms (redness/warmth/visible discharging pus), I would be wanting at least an ultrasound scan to confirm nature of the lump. However good a doctor you are, you can never be 100% certain and it’s not worth taking the risk to wait and see.

i hope he referred for a scan as well as starting the antibiotics

The first time I had one (currently on number 3 in about 5 years) I was referred to the breast clinic at my local hospital in the 2 week pathway. I had a mammogram and ultrasound and it was drained. The 2nd time I saw a breast specialist, no scans etc and was put on antibiotics which cleared it up.
This time, I'm overseas and went to see the breast specialist who drained it and put me on antibiotics. For some reason didn't take a culture so drugs haven't been as successful as they could have been. Then had an ultrasound to see if he'd removed everything. My Dr has now sent a sample off so hopefully will get the results soon.

Ladies thank you all for taking the time to reply and I hope that you're well. My friend is over 30 and the general consensus seems to be that the majority of you were referred beyond the GP which is my concern as well. I casually asked yesterday whether she had any other symptoms or she felt feverish or anything like that and she said no she feels fine and there is no pain at all with the lump. I didn't say anything other than asking if she was going back after the antibiotics are finished, which she is. I think at that point, when she has the appointment, I might say to her that if it was me I'd push for further investigation.

It's only occured to me yesterday that a family member of mine was misdiagnosed back in the early 80s by a male GP who dismissed her as hysterical and said she had mastitis. At that time ladies were not as self-aware of breast-checking as we are now and I'm not sure that medical professionals were also as on the ball in terms of the importance of a quick pathway. Unfortunately by the time she was taking seriously it was too late. This is honestly not a drip feed it literally just came to my mind yesterday and perhaps this is subconsciously why what my friend is going through is not sitting easy with me. I'm actually glad that I have an understanding of why I was feeling so uneasy because as I said I'm normally very stoic when it comes to anything medical.