Lactiferous ducts

Looks like

Narrow milk channels, one from each lobe, converging towards the nipple.

What it does

Carry milk from the lobes to the nipple.

Keeping it well

A blocked duct during breastfeeding causes a tender lump; frequent feeding from that side usually clears it. Redness with fever means mastitis, and a hot, hard swelling that persists may be an abscess needing drainage. Bloody discharge from one duct needs imaging.

Its parts

• Lactiferous sinuses

Related conditions

• Benign breast lumps (fibroadenoma, cysts)
• Breast cancer
• Gynaecomastia
• Hereditary cancer syndromes (BRCA, Lynch)
• High prolactin (hyperprolactinaemia)
• Male breast cancer
• Mastitis & breast abscess
• Premenstrual syndrome and PMDD