Peau d’orange skin on both breasts. Cancer? :(

[Snowdog37]

Has anyone else had Peau d’orange (Orange peel) skin on their breasts during pregnancy? Over the last couple of weeks I’ve developed this on both breasts around the areola, extending 2-3” outwards. My breasts just feel super heavy and big. They weren’t small to start with! I made the mistake of googling and the first thing that came up is inflammatory breast cancer. I have an appointment first thing Monday as my dr feels this is as “emergent” situation where time is of the essence to investigate the cause. I’m 23 weeks pregnant and now freaking out! It’s hard not to. IBC has an appalling survival rate and although it might not be that, the fact it could be is hugely distressing.

Glad the little one is ok.

And glad to see the system working so well as well. Fingers crossed 🤞

Oh I should add I’m 35 week and cry a lot lately I’m not just a weirdo lol.

All the best, thinking of you.

So, so glad to hear your little guy's okay Wishing you all the best for the next steps for you, and hoping it's all just your hormones being a bit out of whack

How did the biopsy go OP? Hope you're doing okay

I’ve got 2 little stitches in each breast where they did 6mm punch biopsies. Have to say they did a great job with numbing the area first, as once I saw the “hole punches” I was bloody terrified. I get the results within the next few days. It’s Thanksgiving here on Thursday so my dr will only call me before my next appointment next week if there’s anything urgent. Her opinion is I’m blessed with extremely heavy boobs that are growing fast and have both developed lymph edema as part and parcel of the hormones and rapid growth. So fingers crossed she’s right.
Thanks for checking in on me 😊💕

Good luck I hope everything is fine! Enjoy your thanksgiving

Keeping everything crossed for you I'm out in the States too, hope you have a wonderful thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving. I hope the results come back quickly and you can get to enjoying the rest of your pregnancy.

@snowdog37 I am currently 22 weeks pregnant with my first and having the same issue. I have it on both of my breasts. I noticed it for the first time about 3-4 weeks ago. My midwife suggested to get a bigger bra. It helped a little but yesterday was the worst I had ever seen it. I am going to see my doctor hopefully this week and get it all figured out but let me just say I am so thankful you posted this. There isn’t much to find except “cancer scare” out there and it had me panicked. I’m a nurse myself, but I’ve never seen anything like this. It’s semi sore and does go down when I’m not wearing a bra... the nurse practitioner at my facility where I work thinks it’s more along the lines of an infection as opposed to malignant... but I suppose I will have to see what my doctor thinks! Did you get your results back yet? I will update my story here too as I find out more info. (Just for the sake of others being in the same panicked state!).

Hi Lulu1987 and all my other lovely respondents. I got the biopsy results back yesterday afternoon and it’s all completely benign! They’re basically saying the pregnancy hormones plus swift growth plus originally mahoosive breasts are more susceptible to edema which presents as orange peel skin. The dr was very glad I got it checked out so swiftly as in a very very few rare cases cancer is missed and can be tragic. But my outcome is as good as it can get really! They’ve recommended I wear a soft fitting sports bra, and forego support for comfort at this stage. Plus use anti fungal powder daily as the edema enlarged pores plus warm moist (shudder) boobs can be a breeding ground for yeast type infections. Other than that I’m to go away and enjoy the rest of this pregnancy and come back in a year or two for a regularly scheduled mammogram.
Lulu I would definitely recommend getting your boobs checked out. I’ll be you’ve got the same as me. But for peace of mind I’d definitely get all the tests done. It’s not worth the risk of missing cancer. Especially when you’re pregnant. Best of luck 🍀💕🍀

So pleased to see it was all good news for you, what a relief. Enjoy the rest of your pregnancy xx

Great news!

That's wonderful, I'm really happy for you

Only just saw this when I was checking back but that's such great news OP, I'm so happy for you. Yay!

Hi there, I know this post is old but I'm experiencing the exact same thing... they are referring me to a breast surgeon as well... how did this turn out for you? I just had an ultrasound yesterday... Thanks!

Hello
I know this was while ago I was just wondering if it ended up going away on have the same problem at the moment. I'm 25 weeks pregnant. I had an ultrasound the other day and they said they couldn't see anything. I'm taking antibiotics at the moment to see if it's a skin infection but same as you it's on both breast toward the bottom

My ultrasound they didn’t see anything either... a round of antibiotics did nothing. I have a breast dr appt this Friday, I will update after! I’m sure it will be the above positive result as well! I’m 20 weeks. Feel free to email me: [email protected]

Update... I had two punch biopsies in each breast (fun) a few weeks ago... this is not cancer. No professional I have seen seems to know what this is, this thread has been the only thing that has helped me realize it’s happened to other people! Their best guess is because of how big my breasts got in such a short amount of time. I’m 25 weeks right now... I would love to know if and when this went away for others as well as if it impacted their ability to breast feed!?

@LHerzog123 I have exactly the same! I’ve been referred but it’s an 8 week wait, even though it’s classed as ‘urge to, I’ve been debating whether to fork out to go private. My breasts have got a lot bigger really quickly - D to an F/G. Did it take long for you to be referred? What a relief that it’s nothing sinister.

@MrsMcNulty20, Yes no cancer. It took me a few weeks to get in.... first they wanted me to have an ultrasound before I even saw breast surgeon. I went from a 32DD (E) to like a 32H... or "I" now even?! So 3-4 sizes. Seems to be the case with most people in this thread. I am still curious when it will go away though!! Where are you located?

This is interesting. I’ve just been to GP about this. I don’t think my boobs have gotten tons bigger - I’m a 32 DD/E normally But haven’t worn a not sports bra in months. I’m 21weeks pregnant and have fairly symmetrical orange peel skin on the bottom, inside of both boobs. They aren’t especially painful or leaky and I don’t have a temp so doc was unsure. She didn’t think it was anything sinister because of the symmetry. We’ve decided to just monitor over the next few weeks to see what happens.

@imgp yes mine was in the exact same spots bottom/inside... it has spread a bit but that’s the general location. So weird!!

Mine is more on the inside, ‘cleavage’ area. It’s strange how we all have it yet when I was googling, nothing came up about pregnancy, it was all only about inflammatory breast cancer.

@LHerzog123 I’m in south Wales

I know this thread is old but for the sake of anyone googling, I just went through a similar runaround trying to get this same thing diagnosed. I had some pinky redness near my one areola and some hyperpigmentation and skin thickening around the edge of the areolas. I saw my ob, had a breast ultrasound (which showed nothing), saw a breast surgeon and she recommended I see a dermatologist before we did a biopsy. Thankfully the dermatologist took a look at it and said "oh this is peau d'orange from your breasts being swollen from pregnancy." So much stress just because my boobs are swelled up 🤣 she said this type of skin change can cause the redness and thickening of the skin, and basically recommended a supportive bra!