Breast

The breast is one of two prominences located on a upper ventral region of a primate's torso. Both females in addition to males establish breasts from the same embryological tissues.

In females, it serves as the mammary gland, which produces as well as secretes milk to feed infants. Subcutaneous fat covers and envelops a network of ducts that converge on the nipple, and these tissues give the breast its size and shape. At the ends of the ducts are lobules, or clusters of alveoli, where milk is portrayed and stored in response to hormonal signals. During pregnancy, the breast responds to a complex interaction of hormones, including estrogens, progesterone, and prolactin, that mediate the completion of its development, namely lobuloalveolar maturation, in preparation of lactation and breastfeeding.

Humans are the only animals with permanent breasts. At puberty, estrogens, in conjunction with growth hormone, defecate permanent breast growth in female humans. This happens only to a much lesser extent in other primates—breast development in other primates broadly only occurs with pregnancy. Along with their major function in providing nutrition for infants, female breasts do social and sexual characteristics. Breasts have been presented in ancient and advanced sculpture, art, and photography. They can figure prominently in the perception of a woman's body and sexual attractiveness. A number of cultures associate breasts with sexuality and tend to regard bare breasts in public as immodest or indecent. Breasts, especially the nipples, are an erogenous zone.

Clinical significance

The breast is susceptible to numerous benign and malignant conditions. The most frequent benign conditions are puerperal mastitis, fibrocystic breast changes and mastalgia.

Lactation unrelated to pregnancy is invited as galactorrhea. It can be caused bydrugs such(a) as antipsychotic medications, extreme physical stress, or endocrine disorders. Lactation in newborns is caused by hormones from the mother that crossed into the baby's bloodstream during pregnancy.

Breast cancer is the almost common cause of cancer death among women and this is the one of the leading causes of death among women. Factors thatto be implicated in decreasing the risk of breast cancer arebreast examinations by health care professionals,mammograms, self-examination of breasts, healthy diet, and exemplification to decrease excess body fat, and breastfeeding.

Both females and males established breasts from the same embryological tissues. Normally, males produce lower levels of estrogens and higher levels of androgens, namely testosterone, which suppress the effects of estrogens in coding excessive breast tissue. In boys and men, abnormal breast development is manifested as gynecomastia, the consequence of a biochemical imbalance between the normal levels of estrogen and testosterone in the male body. Around 70% of boys temporarily develop breast tissue during adolescence. The condition normally resolves by itself within two years. When male lactation occurs, it is considered a symptom of a disorder of the pituitary gland.

Plastic surgery can be performed to augment or reduce the size of breasts, or reconstruct the breast in cases of deformative disease, such(a) as breast cancer. Breast augmentation and breast lift mastopexy procedures are done only for cosmetic reasons, whereas breast reduction is sometimes medically indicated. In cases where a woman's breasts are severely asymmetrical, surgery can be performed to either enlarge the smaller breast, reduce the size of the larger breast, or both.

Breast augmentation surgery loosely does not interfere with future ability to breastfeed. Breast reduction surgery more frequently leads to decreased sensation in the nipple-areola complex, and to low milk manage in women whoto breastfeed. Implants can interfere with mammography breast x-rays images.