Normal Breast and Physiological Changes

Abstract

The breast is a modified sweat gland located in the superficial fascia of the anterior chest wall. The mature female breast has a distinctive protuberant, mound-shaped, or conical form and covers the area from the second or third rib to the sixth or seventh rib. The nipple projects from the anterior surface and consists mainly of dense fibrous tissue covered by hyperpigmented skin and contains bundles of smooth muscle fibres. The skin immediately surrounding the nipple, called the areola, is also more pigmented than the rest of the breast skin. The areola contains sebaceous glands and numerous sensory nerve endings but lacks pilosebaceous units and hair.