1. INFECTION: Infection more commonly occurs if you’re breast-feeding. However, it can occur in older women who are not breast-feeding.

HOW IT FEELS: It often feels like a tender, hot, lumpy area with redness in the overlying skin.

WHAT YOU NEED: Investigations including clinical breast examination, imaging and sometimes biopsy are recommended. These tests help to make sure it’s not inflammatory breast cancer, which is not common. Treatment may include antibiotics.

2. FAT NECROSIS: Fat necrosis is a chronic inflammatory reaction with fibrosis that sometimes occurs after trauma e.g. a car accident or previous surgery. You can only remember the causative trauma in about 40 % of cases.

HOW IT FEELS: It can feel different in different patients, ranging from a discrete lump to a localised thickening. It is not usually tender.

WHAT YOU NEED: Investigations include clinical breast examination, imaging and sometimes needle biopsy. Surgical excision is not usually required.

3. MONDOR’S SYNDROME: Mondor’s syndrome occurs when a superficial vein in the breast becomes inflamed – either spontaneously or after trauma.

HOW IT FEELS: It feels painful and tender, like a cord that’s thickened and attached to the skin above it.

WHAT YOU NEED: The diagnosis is often made on clinical breast examination but imaging is useful to exclude other causes. No treatment is needed. Mondor’s syndrome will usually heal itself within 2-12 weeks.

4. GALACTOCOELE: A galactocoele is a milk-filled cyst that sometimes occurs during or after lactation (the production of breast milk).

HOW IT FEELS: It feels like a smooth, mobile soft swelling which is usually not tender.

WHAT YOU NEED: Investigations include clinical breast examination, imaging – usually ultrasound - and sometimes needle biopsy. Treatment often includes ongoing surveillance and further aspiration.

5. LIPOMA: A lipoma is a lumpy area of fat tissue. It can often be found in other areas of the body.

HOW IT FEELS: It feels like a smooth, soft, slightly lobulated lump.

WHAT YOU NEED: Investigations include clinical breast examination and imaging. Needle biopsy is sometimes useful to confirm the diagnosis. No treatment is needed.

6. HAMARTOMA: A hamartoma is a small localised lump of fibro glandular tissue and fat. It’s often discovered by chance during mammography.

HOW IT FEELS: Often it is not felt and is an incidental finding on imaging. However, sometimes it can feel like a small, soft lump.

WHAT YOU NEED: Investigations include clinical breast examination, imaging and sometimes needle biopsy. Surgical excision is not usually required.

7. SCLEROSING ADENOSIS: Sclerosing adenosis can occur from age 20 onwards.

HOW IT FEELS: It is often associated with no symptoms but may feel like a small, firm, attached lump or a localised area of persistent breast pain.

WHAT YOU NEED: Investigations include clinical breast examination, imaging and sometimes needle biopsy. Surgical excision is not usually required.

8. DUCT ECTASIA: In this condition, the ducts below your areola dilate and shorten – this occurs in 40% of women by the time they reach 70.

HOW IT FEELS: It often causes a horizontal slit-like indentation in the centre of your nipple and sometimes produces a “cheesy” nipple discharge.

WHAT YOU NEED: The diagnosis is often made on clinical breast examination but imaging is needed to exclude other causes. No treatment is needed.