View Full Version : Nipple worry - Paget's disease?!
Hi - for a few months, my right nipple has been flaky, scaly and a bit red. I was wondering if it was eczema, but I made the mistake of googling and now am very worried it's Paget's disease, especially as it's only one nipple!
After a while of on-and-off worrying, I went to the doctor and she said it could be either eczema, thrush or ... Paget's. (She actually asked if I'd been googling!) She said it's extremely rare, so she really doesn't think it's that. But she's referring me to a breast specialist so they can 'rule it out'. I left with a prescription for antifungal and hydrocortisone cream and felt more reassured.
Well, I've been using the cream for 10 days now and there's no improvement! So I'm now feeling really worried. Does this mean it's something more serious, or are there cases of eczema that don't clear up with steroid cream? I haven't heard when my appointment at the breast clinic will be ... how can I stop worrying in the meantime?!
Thanks!
Hi there
I had the exact same scare about four years ago. I too googled and came up with Pagets disease. I went to the Dr and she referred me to a breast consultant as one of my nipples had gone white, just the tip.
The white was a blocked duct which the Consultant cut there and then (it was just like a big spot) and confirmed the itchiness was eczema, went to a dermatologist and he prescribed Elcon ointment 0.1% which is a corticosteroid and that stopped the itching quickly although it still reoccurs when I get hot or stressed.
Interestingly, a chemist once dispensed the wrong ointment and it didn't touch the itch, so you might need another type than the one you have.
Pagets disease is very, very rare and the breast specialist I saw said itching and dryness etc. are not the only symptoms. The internet has some real horror stories on it so don't google, I have learnt this lesson to my cost!!!
Please be reassured, I know exactly what you are going through and I don't want you to feel like I did four years ago!!! (I completely went to pieces for three days until my appointment with the Consultant)
My dermatologist said that it often (but not only) effects women that had eczema as a child, as I did.
Try not to worry, I completely understand.
xx
Thanks so much for your reply, Diva. I am trying to hold on to the fact that it's rare (and I'm 40, so not even in the usual age bracket for Paget's), but I'd be so much more reassured about the whole thing if the cream was doing something. I know that these creams are usually really effective at damping down the inflammation of eczema. I can live with the problem as long as I know it's nothing sinister, but I'll have to wait to make sure!
What cream have you been given?
40's is the age that my Dermatologist told me that eczema of the nipple occurs (I was 43 when mine started).
Try not to worry, it sounds just like my case and all was fine.
(I know it's easier said than done as I have similar concerns at present with urinary issues!)
I was given Canesten, as it has a fungicide (in case it's thrush) as well as hydrocortisone.
Hi again
What hyrocortisone 'though - that's the one that might need changing (from my experience) some just don't work on eczema (seems strange I know).
Hi....I have Paget',s I have it on the skull and in my legs,it is painfull but there are good meds out there for it.It really is nothing bad and quite common disease.Take care
Petra xx:flowers:
I had this a few years ago. My nipples itched a lot and I had very dry skin on them. It went away on it's own eventually.
Diva - not sure what kind. Will have to check.
Petra - thanks for the message and glad you're coping with your condition. What I am worried about is that Paget's of the nipple in most cases means breast cancer.
Thanks for the message, Dodo. I think I would worry much less if it was both nipples affected. I think eczema in only one nipple is less likely, and Paget's affects one nipple, so it's not surprising (in my HA state) that I'm making the connection!
I'm sure it's nothing. My skin is really itchy and dry at the moment. To be honest it was more one nipple than both. It would be uncontrollably itchy, so much I wanted to scratch it all the time. The skin would flake off in quite big pieces at times.
Hi again
My itchiness was also just in one nipple, that's why I made the connection too (damn google). Get back to me on the type of cream.
xx
Diva - it's Canesten HC, containing clotrimazole (anti-fungal) and 1% hydrocortisone. I think it's mainly for thrush, but the hydrocortisone should be able to damp down the inflammation of eczema.
Hi there
You might want to ask your Dr if you can try Elcon ointment 0.1% Mometasone Furoate 1mg/g - it worked for me almost immediately.
As I said before, nothing else touched it.
xx
Thanks. By the way, when you were sent to the consultant, did they do any scans or anything, just in case?
Hi again
Yes, they did, before I went in to see the Consultant I had a mammagram (which was fine, nothing to it). I have private medical insurance so I think they do it as a matter of course if you get referred to a breast Consultant. I think if he had seen me first, he wouldn't have bothered, as he knew as soon as he saw me it was just a blocked duct and eczema.
I hope this reassures you a little. Try not to worry and you can always PM me if you want to talk. I know exactly what you are going through!
Hi....In my case Paget's disease runs in the family,my father had it,and his brother,It is a bone disease.I do not have eczema or had eczema in one nipple,only bone pain,I do not google any symptoms as I have had full body scan,and i see a Rhuematologist.
It is as I say quite common,but do not know about the nipple.Take Care
Petra xx:flowers:
There are two types of Paget's once is breast one is bone - as far as I know the two are totally unrelated they just have the same name, unusual I know but true.
(found out when I had my breast scare 4 yrs ago, courtesy of Google, which I don't do anymore!!!)
Hi Diva,
I did not know that,interesting that they both have same name.Thanks for for the info
Petra x
Just want to say I had this exact fear last year, I had eczema on one nipple and googled and thought it was Pagets. I have bad eczema anyway all over me, and the Doctor suggested this was also eczema and gave me eumovate for it (it took a while but this did eventually clear it up). He did feel one nipple was a bit unusual though and sent me to a breast specialist for a check - I had that and nothing was found. Since then I have had it loads more times, sometimes on one nipple, sometimes on both - right now I have it on both. Very annoying but nothing to worry about.
And you are right re: the difference between Pagets disease and Pagets disease of the breast - the nipple one is a serious condition and the other isn't. But the nipple one is incredibly rare - so keep calm!!
Thanks again for all the supportive messages. Have just found out that my breast clinic appointment is on 11 January. Glad it's soon!
Just wanted to add to this thread that I saw this: "The biggest difference between Paget’s disease and eczema is that Paget’s disease always affects the nipple first whereas eczema usually first affects the area around the nipple which is known as the areola."
(can't post the link because this is my first post here, but it's at thefamilydoctor dot co dot uk, on the page with "symptoms and signs of breast cancer")
It is some comfort to me until my appointment on Friday, so I thought I'd put it here for others who got here by googling the same things I did!
I just found this thread via Google and wanted to put my little bit on here.
It was two weeks ago on Monday that i was getting changed when i looked in the mirror and noticed my left nipple was dark. I thought it was a shadow at first but when i looked closer it was all black and scabby. I was quite worried about this so i looked it up and it came up with Paget's disease.
I went down the docs within 12 hours and he straight away said it didn't look cancerous because Paget's etc. looks different and gave me some E45 and Eumovate cream, saying those might make a difference and if not to go back in 2 weeks time.
My main point is that it's a really bad idea to look up symptoms online (known as consulting Dr.Google). There is a reason why doctors train for years and years and get paid huge amounts. Thinking that you can just type symptoms into a computer and get an answer is an insult to their skill!
Over the last 5 years I've had a number of things that i looked up online and here are the outcomes...
I had a terrible headache for 3 weeks that no amount of pills would get rid of. I looked it up online and was diagnosed with a brain tumour. Turns out it was just a tension headache caused by the stress of my job! After finding this out from the doctor It went within a week and the doctor said the worry had probably made it worse.
I had a stomach ache for 3 months that wouldn't shift so i consulted Dr. Google and it said i had bowel cancer and probably had a few months to live. It was actually IBS, a simple and common problem that some pills got rid of within a month.
I had a pain and pins and needles in my arm and Dr. Google said it was permanent nerve damage. Turned out i just had a sore arm and it went after 6 months.
I hope that shows you how bad Dr. Google can be! I don't think i have Paget's for several reasons...
1) I'm a man and it's rare enough in women, never mind men
2) I'm 33 and the usual age is 40+
3) Both nipples are effected, one not so much as the other
4) I work as a driving instructor so i wear a seat belt all day. This has been rubbing me lately and having been doing it for 10+ years now it's no wonder that i have had some kind of reaction!
5) It's black, not red, and it doesn't itch, isn't bleeding and isn't itching.
6) It's slowly fading as days go by and i don't think cancer would do that.
I'll let you know how i get on when i go back to the doc either tomorrow or next week but please don't worry about things that you have just looked up online, it's a 1 in a billion chance that you've got it right!
I don't know if anyone will read this but i found it so maybe others will too.
After seeing 2 different doctors they've now both said that it's nothing to worry about and should be gone within 2 weeks. Exactly what it is i don't know but for those of you worrying about Paget's disease then please don't. It's extremely rare and always the last thing that anything wrong with a nipple could be caused by!
I'm glad all seems well with me and my problem is responding well to Eumovate cream. These creams always say that if they haven't worked after 7 days then go back and see a doctor but don't let that worry you, the doc usually always says just keep using it! If it was only meant for 7 days usage then why does it come in such a big tube that would last you a month?
I won't be on here again, probably, so here's what I have learnt about Paget's disease over the last 2 weeks and i hope someone might get some comfort from this.
- It's rarely found in women and very rarely in men
- Usually effects people over 50, very unlikely if you're below that age
- It almost always causes bleeding AND ithcing AND pain. Without all of those things, any other one on it's own is unlikely to be Pagets.
- It only grows in one nipple so if you have two poor nipples then it's highly unlikely to be Paget's disease. I had one quite bad and the other very slightly effected.
- It's very treatable so even if you do get it then your life isn't over. An operation and follow up treatment and 98% or more of people live as they usually would
- Seeing a doctor asap can put your mind at ease and just being told it's nothing serious will massively aid your recovery!
As a final thought, statistics show that you're more likely to win the lottery than you are to get Paget's disease so STOP WORRYING!!!
One last post with a big tip that helped me a lot...
After using Eumovate cream for 3 weeks it didn't seem to be doing much but i noticed that after applying it at 8am and then 3pm, the skin around my nipple seemed to be looser by about 8pm. In fact it looked like it was ready to just fall off so i gave it a little pull very carefully and it just lifted off!
The horrible black mass that looked like it was part of the nipple was actually just a scab that fell apart in my hands. Underneath was a lovely pink bit of skin! I carefully pulled away more, and more and eventually within 10 minutes the whole thing had come off!
I've never been so happy to see my nipple and i even took photos of them both. It had been such a worry but now it's all behind me. It wasn't Paget's, it was merely a cut or infection or something that was healing.
I'm so glad this chapter in my life is over and on the day i healed i also got a call to say i had approved for a lovely new flat I'd been looking at moving into. My life is all go again and i have put the creams i had at the back of the cupboard to help me forget about this ever happening.
If you've just found a growth and are reading this thread then please don't waste time worrying about it as i did. It looked really bad and matched photos of cancer online exactly, then it just went and came off that easily!
Nobody had told me to pull the skin after using the cream and i wouldn't advise you do it very roughly but a little tug solved all my problems and it didn't even hurt after! I hope anyone reading this has the same luck i did.
I am 27 years guy and have been having a rash on the right nipple for ~2 years. First year I did not worry, later on I got scared because of Paget disease. However, I already knew that Paget disease is very rare in young men. Afterwards I figured out that the rash on nipple developed due to sleeping on the chest.
Thanks. By the way, when you were sent to the consultant, did they do any scans or anything, just in case?
Hi glowworm! I know this thread was from a while back. Just wondering how you're getting on? I too, was prescribed Canesten (after using Betnovate which didn't work for me). I've just finished the duration of the treatment (apply to area twice daily for 2 weeks, and then repeat for additional 2 weeks if it continues) and now that I have stopped applying the cream, I am definitely feeling the itch again and it looks like some scaling may start soon.
How did your breast check go? Hope you're completely healed!
Wow...so glad I'm not alone on this! I had a stereotactic biopsy twice 2 years ago...the first one got botched up and a week later, a difference facility did the biopsy. Since then, my breast has never been the same. I have allergies and 4 days ago, I was working, got a little warm at work because we had our door open on a hot day with the air conditioning on and the breast that had the biopsies or the nipple or both started to itch. I put coconut oil on it thinking it was dry skin in the area because I tend to have pretty dry skin, and I'm not sure but the itching seemed to have gotten worse. So I took the coconut oil off (8 hrs later) and the next day, still had a little itching off and on nothing major and here it is 4 days Peter and I see a small hole where I have been scratching and thats where the itching is, right on that one nipple.
Well, I too looked it up on the internet and saw the same thing everyone has seen but my question is, has anyone else noticed a tiny bit of loose skin or a hole like thing where you have scratched it? Today is Friday. We just moved here so I don't even have a Dr yet so I know I could not get in anywhere as a new patient anytime soon. How can I keep my anxiety down?
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