Are you lactating, or are you just happy to see me?

[novapsyche]

Nipple Ring Causes Lactation in 20-Year-Old Woman

A 20-year-old woman began to produce breast milk approximately five weeks after having both her nipples pierced and several weeks after she first went to her doctor with symptoms of an infection, according to a recently published report. She was not pregnant at the time nor was she nursing a child.

Dr. Geoffrey Modest, co-author of the report and the medical director of the Upham's Corner Health Center in Dorchester, Massachusetts, said he suspected that it was stimulation from the rings and from the infection that caused prolactin levels to rise so "dramatically." Prolactin is a hormone produced in the pituitary gland that triggers milk production.

Usually, levels of prolactin as high as were found in this patient in the absence of a pregnancy are indicative of a tumor in the pituitary, said Modest. "This was quite unusual because hers were so high that I ended up making sure that she didn't have a tumor...and she didn't," said Modest. "When she took the rings out, the levels went down."