A breast injury occurs when something causes damage or stress to the breast tissue. Many women experience breast pain at some point in their lives. Luckily, many types of breast injuries do not cause lasting problems, and there is no research suggesting they cause cancer. However, there are some types that are longer lasting than others.
Read on below as we explain all the symptoms you need to look out for and the dangerous complications that can occur after experiencing sharp breast pain from an injury.
Common Causes of Breast Injury
One of the most common causes of breast pain from an injury is being in a car accident. Due to the seatbelt position, the impact is mainly felt in the chest area, damaging the breast. Also, if you are sitting in the front of the car and the airbag deploys, the force of the impact could cause sharp breast pain and injury.
However, there are many other ways this type of injury can happen. One such example is when playing sports. This is especially the case for contact sports, where injuries to the breast are quite common.
If you do lots of running without using a supportive bra, the movement can cause excessive pain and breast contusions to form in that area. The sharp breast pain that often occurs can drastically reduce your enjoyment of these sports.
What are the Symptoms of Breast Pain from Injury?
As we’ve mentioned above, there are many causes of injury, but what are the symptoms? You’ll be glad to know that most breast issues result in no severe side effects apart from sharp breast pain, non-cancerous lumps, and breast contusions.
However, in less common cases, women can experience severe bleeding. This is due to the injury-causing severe damage to the blood vessels inside the breast. This then results in the possibility of several more side effects, such as feeling as if you are going to faint, lower blood pressure than normal, an increased heart rate, and shock.
How Can You Stop Breast Pain?
If you experience bleeding in the breast area, you should see a doctor immediately. A surgeon will have to stop the blood loss, preventing it from becoming too severe.
If the problem isn’t as severe, you can do a few things before seeing the doctor.
Rest and recovery are the two most important things when injuries are concerned, and you need to do them properly to recover quickly. After having an injury, it is a good idea to do some of the following:
- Applying a cold pack to the area with the injury for 15 minutes soon after it has taken place will soothe the pain.
- Inflammatory healers that can be purchased from pharmacies are also helpful in reducing the agony felt.
- Wearing bras that have increased support is key for minimizing excessive movement of the breast during the recovery period.
Talking to a doctor is always a good idea if you have intense pain that doesn’t seem to be stopping.
Can It Cause Cancer?
Although there is no link between the two, lumps will often form when a breast injury occurs. This makes it much harder for a doctor to adequately diagnose whether new lumps have been caused by an injury or are cancerous. To ensure accuracy in diagnosis, they will often ask you to undergo an ultrasound, MRI, CT, or mammogram scan to evaluate whether it is a big problem or not.
If these scans aren’t enough, a breast biopsy is needed. This is where a sample of your medical tissue is taken to be examined. A breast biopsy is the most in-depth and accurate way to determine if the lump is cancerous. Although this is a relatively safe procedure, there is a chance of breast contusion and swelling occurring after taking the tissue. However, these side effects are mostly temporary and can be treated when needed.
If a lump is not from an injury but from cancer, treatment will be required as soon as possible.
What are the Main Risks and Complications?
Some several main risks and complications can occur from a traumatic injury in the breast area.
Fat Necrosis and Oil Cysts in the Breast
Fat necrosis and oil cysts often occur after an injury to the breast. When your body changes the damaged tissue, the fat cells work together to replace it with firm scar tissue. But not all fat cells act the same. Some of these cells may die, releasing greasy and oily fluid, causing hard lumps around the breast to form. These lumps are commonly known as fat necrosis and oil cysts.
You can easily feel these non-cancerous lumps, but they don’t hurt most of the time. It can be hard to distinguish whether they are getting larger and more swollen. In either case, it’s often a good idea to visit the doctor to find out if these lumps are hiding cancerous cells or not.
This condition usually resolves over time on its own without the need for treatment.
Hematoma in the Breast
Hematomas are another type of common complication that usually occurs in a breast after injury; it is known to appear after car accidents.
Hematoma occurs when the blood vessels are harmed. The blood flows into the breast tissue, and when the blood gets congealed together, it creates a firm lump under the skin. You will often find a breast contusion to appear on the surface above the lump as a result of a hematoma in the breast.
Many get a hematoma in the breast confused with a blood clot in a vein. It should not be a cause for concern if this appears in the breast, unlike blood clots. Although this is usually not a massive problem, it’s still a good idea to get a hematoma in the breast checked by a doctor.
When Should You See a Doctor?
Many often ask when the best time to see a doctor is. Although injuries in the breast area are common, that doesn’t mean that you should completely ignore them. Any time you find a lump in your breast, you should see a doctor.
You should see a doctor if the pain from the injury isn’t disappearing with time. As well as this, it’s often a good idea to get it seen by a doctor if you experience any changes to the skin of your breasts, whether it is the skin thickening, peeling, or becoming redder.
In more severe cases, you should see a doctor with urgency if bleeding or some kind of discharge occurs from the nipple and it looks like you have an infection in that area. When you see your doctor, you should ask them about when the symptoms should disappear and what more can be done to alleviate the pain.
Talk to a Specialist
If you want to find out how you can reduce the pain from your breast injury or make sure that no cancerous lumps are forming, we can help. Located in the Palm Beach County, Florida area, Advanced Surgical Physicians have well-trained experts with years of experience dealing with these concerns. Book an appointment with us today.
