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Anatomy of the Female Breast
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The breasts are covered by skin; each breast has one nipple surrounded by the areola. The areola is colored from pink to dark brown, hairless, and has several sebaceous glands.
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The larger mammary glands within the breast produce the milk; they consist of several lobules, and each breast has some 10-20 lactiferous ducts that drain milk from the lobules to the nipple, where each duct has its own opening,
Most of the breast is connective tissue, i.e., adipose tissue (fat) and Cooper's ligaments. The breasts sit over the pectoralis major muscle and usually extend from the level of the 2nd rib to the level of the 6th rib anteriorly. The superior lateral quadrant of the breast extends diagonally upwards in an 'axillary tail'. A thin layer of mammary tissue extends from the clavicle above to the seventh or eighth ribs below and from the midline to the edge of the latissimus dorsi posteriorly. |
The arterial blood supply to the breasts is derived from the internal thoracic artery (previously referred to as the internal mammary artery), lateral thoracic artery, thoracoacromial artery, and posterior intercostal arteries. The venous drainage of the breast is mainly to the axillary vein, but there is some drainage to the internal thoracic vein and the intercostal veins.
The breast is innervated by the anterior and lateral cutaneous branches of the 4th through 6th intercostal nerves. The nipple is supplied by the T4 dermatome. Both sexes have a large concentration of blood vessels and nerves in their nipples.
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