Nipple Discharge

Nipple discharge is fluid that leaks from one or both of your nipples.

• The discharge can be cloudy, whitish, bloody, or almost clear fluid

• Nipple discharge is sometimes normal in women—for example, at the end of pregnancy or when breastfeeding

• Nipple discharge is never normal in boys and men

The most common causes of nipple discharge are:

• A benign tumor in your milk duct (these tumors aren't cancer)

• Milk ducts that have gotten bigger, thicker, and filled with fluid

• Fibrocystic changes (a condition that includes breast pain, breast cysts, and other breast lumps that aren’t cancer)

• A breast infection that contains pus

Less common causes of nipple discharge are:

• High levels of a hormone called prolactin

• Breast cancer

Prolactin is a hormone that tells your body to make breast milk after you have a baby. However, prolactin can be produced by certain health problems, such as thyroid or liver disorders, and certain medicines.

Go to a doctor within 1 to 2 days if you have nipple discharge and signs of infection:

• Redness

• Swelling

• Discharge of pus (gray, green, yellow, or brown fluid that's thick and sticky)

Go to a doctor within a week or so if you have nipple discharge and:

• It happens on its own—when your nipple isn’t squeezed

• You’re age 40 or older

• It’s only from one breast

• The discharge is bloody or pink

• You have a lump you can feel in your breast

• You're male

Doctors will ask you questions about your symptoms and health. They’ll do an exam, including a breast exam.

To find out what's causing your nipple discharge, doctors may do other tests, such as:

• Blood tests to see your hormone levels

• Look at a sample of your discharge under a microscope

• Ultrasound (a test that uses sound waves to create a moving picture of the insides of your body) of your breast

• Mammogram (x-ray of your breast to screen for cancer)

Doctors will treat the cause of your nipple discharge.

If you have a noncancerous tumor causing nipple discharge from one breast, doctors may remove the milk duct from that breast.