In a rare case, a mother in Portugal started producing milk in one of her armpits after giving birth.
According to a report in Mashable SEA quoting The New England Journal of Medicine, the 26-year-old woman suffered from pain in her right underarm two days after giving birth.
Doctors at Hospital de Santa Maria in Lisbon then found a round mass in the armpit, which when pressed, "released a white discharge" that has been identified as milk.
Doctors later said the woman has a case of polymastia, which is the presence of additional breast tissue in the body.
Rare but it happens
According to Pubmed, there aren't many reported cases of polymastia but there are a few. The website also has references to some of the known cases.
It describes polymastia as "the presence of more than two breasts in human beings. It is synonymous with supernumerary or accessory breast tissue."
The publication further explains that the ectopic breast tissue (EBT) can occur anywhere "along the primitive embryonic milk lines, which extend from the axilla (relating to the armpit or corresponding part) to the groin, and may occur unilaterally or bilaterally."
As with any other breast tissue, it is also possible for these additional tissue to develop breast cancer.
We hope that the woman in the report will not have any complication because of this.