areola
Meaning of areola: Its small bumps are working glands rather than blemishes, and they grow more prominent in pregnancy and breastfeeding.
Definition of areola
The areola is the circle of darker, pigmented skin surrounding the nipple, present in everyone regardless of sex. Its color ranges from pale pink to deep brown according to overall skin pigmentation, and it typically darkens and widens during pregnancy. The small raised bumps scattered across its surface are the openings of glands lying beneath.
What are the bumps on its surface?
They are the visible tips of areolar glands, usually named after Montgomery, who described them. Each is a gland in the skin combining sebaceous tissue with a small amount of milk producing tissue, and each opens through a tiny duct at the surface. They release an oily fluid that lubricates and protects the skin of the nipple and areola, and that fluid carries substances with mild antibacterial properties. The glands enlarge during pregnancy and while feeding, which is when the bumps become most obvious. They are entirely normal at any stage, and their number varies widely between individuals.
Why does the color change?
Pigment producing cells in the areola respond to hormones. During pregnancy they make more melanin, so the area darkens and often widens, a change that begins early and is sometimes among the first noticeable signs. After weaning the tone usually lightens, though rarely all the way back. Puberty produces a similar though smaller change, and the breast tissue beneath develops alongside it. Because pigmentation varies so much between people, there is no single normal shade, and comparison over time in the same person is more meaningful than comparison with anyone else.
What is looked at during an examination?
| Change | What it usually reflects |
|---|---|
| Darkening or widening | Hormonal change, most often pregnancy |
| More prominent bumps | Active areolar glands |
| Persistent scaling or crusting | Skin conditions such as eczema, or less commonly a change starting in the underlying breast |
| New pulling in of the nipple, or skin dimpling | Tethering of the tissue beneath |
A clinical breast exam inspects the nipple and areola together with the rest of the breast, and surface changes there are given the same weight as a lump felt in the tissue. Eczema of the nipple is common and usually affects both sides, while a persistent scaling change confined to one side is followed up differently for that reason.
Used in a sentence
The clinical breast exam included inspection of the areola and nipple for any surface changes.
Good to know
New scaling, crusting, dimpling or a change in shape involving the areola or nipple receives the same attention during breast evaluation as a lump felt within the tissue, particularly when it is confined to one side.
Word origin
Where “areola” comes from
From Latin areola, a diminutive of area, meaning a small open space.