FEMALE ANATOMY: THE BREASTS
Like other mammals, we have mammary glands, which we call breasts. Breast tissue produces milk, deigned to have all the correct nutrients for babies. Not only that, but it is cheap, warm, and portable. Clever.
Each breast has glands, and ducts, which drain out of a central nipple. The nipple is surrounded by an area of darker, thicker skin called the areola. The skin of the areola and the nipple also contains many nerve fibres, and is quite sensitive. The nipples tend to become more erect when the surface is stimulated during sexual arousal, or by cold temperatures, or other stimulation. Some people have what are known as accessory breasts or nipples, which arc little extra bits of breast and/or nipple tissue, usually below the normal breast. They are probably remnants from when we, like other mammals, had two lines of breasts down our fronts.
Breast tissue responds to hormonal stimulation. It grows and develops during puberty, under the influence of a variety of hormones, to become mature and functional. It responds to increased levels of the hormone prolactin (secreted from the pituitary gland) by producing milk.
Breast tissue can undergo change, which can result in lumps forming. Many of these are benign (non-cancerous), but some are malignant (cancerous).
We think of breasts as typically female appendages, but men do have a small amount of breast tissue beneath their nipples. Without the stimulus of female sex hormones it docs not develop further.
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