This Is Not What Your Breasts Look Like

Have you seen this image doing the rounds? Sadly, pretty as it is, it is not accurate! This image is based on work done by Sir Astley Cooper 160 years ago, and actually isn’t all that representative of the work that he did either! If you are into birth nerd stuff you can read more here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1571528/

So why is it important to call this out? Because understanding how our breasts work is important, especially when we are using them for their primary purpose. Most of us have less milk ducts than this, although originally it is thought we had 22 ducts. Now we know it is around 9; some have more, some less.

This makes a massive difference to those who are considering things like breast surgery. Milk ducts are not arranged in a pretty flower shape, they are more like the intertwined roots of a tree. And they can even be up under your armpit! This is important because when chest/breastfeeding, it matters that we know we can get blocked ducts up under our armpit and therefore treat them.

Our bodies are amazing. We don’t need to have them prettied up like flowers.

Accurate information matters!

#birthnerd

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