Previously, in the time of our mothers and grandmothers, girls were embarrassed when their breasts began to form. Books of those years preached modesty and chastity; the authors advised hiding one’s feminine charms from prying eyes. Now psychologists and doctors advise parents from an early age to begin acquainting their children with their body, its characteristics, and age-related changes. In this article we will tell you when girls’ mammary glands begin to enlarge, what this is connected with, and also what mothers can do to make this process painless and easy for their daughter.
Each woman has her own individual body structure. Breasts come in different shapes, sizes, and colors. It can be large and soft, in the shape of a ski springboard, looking in different directions, small, like elastic balls. Nipples are also different: convex, concave, wide, small, dark, light.
How girls' breasts begin to grow
When adolescence begins, the first thing that undergoes changes in girls is the mammary glands. First, the nipples swell slightly, dense lumps are felt under them, which roll between the fingers. Often this happens with only one breast.
The mammary glands begin to grow, and it is no longer comfortable for the girl to sleep on her stomach, and any friction of clothing causes discomfort. It is painful for a girl to touch her breasts, and even minor pushes can be very painful.
Several months after the nipples begin to swell, the mammary glands gradually enlarge. It usually takes 1.5-2 years before the breasts are completely formed.
Breast size can vary and depends on many factors. As a rule, the daughters of a busty mother also become the owners of large breasts. If all the women in the family have small breasts, most likely the girl will also have neat, miniature mammary glands.
Don't be alarmed by the fact that one breast is larger than the other. This is a completely normal phenomenon, and in adolescence the difference is especially noticeable. It's not clear why, but for most women, the left breast is slightly larger than the right.
This is interesting! During the transition period, many boys also experience nipple swelling. Doctors call this phenomenon gynecomastia. With the end of puberty, boys' breasts become normal.
Stages of breast development
Prenatal period
In the prenatal period, the formation of the mammary gland begins at week 5, when the size of the fetus does not exceed 7 mm. During this time, two folds of epithelium are formed along the body - nipple lines. During normal development, these folds create layers of future gland cells and gradually disappear in other parts of the body. If during this period the embryo is exposed to unfavorable factors, this disrupts the retrograde development of the mammary line, which causes the development of additional mammary glands.
The rest of the epithelium forms the point of the nipple. Gradually, the epithelium grows inward, and it peels off from the surface of the future breast. These processes lead to the formation of the first milk ducts. By the 24th week of pregnancy, gaps and small, fluid-filled, baggy expansions form in the gland ducts. By the time of birth, the girl should have clearly visible and correctly positioned nipples.
The intrauterine development of mammary gland embryos occurs under the influence of sex hormones. This occurs only in female fetuses. In boys, this process does not occur under the influence of androgens synthesized by the testes. If the mother's testosterone concentration increases for any reason during pregnancy, this will lead to disruption of the development of the female breast.
But the other extreme is also dangerous. Too high concentrations of estrogen also lead to abnormal breast development: amastia, micro- and coilomastia.
In animal experiments, it was found that injections of gestagens suppressed the development of mammary glands, but did not regress completely.
After birth
The effect of hormones on the mammary glands does not stop even after the baby is born. Under the influence of estrogens, progesterone and prolactin, the breasts of a third of newborns become swollen. Half of them contain colostrum. This usually occurs on the 10th day, when the tissues are simultaneously exposed to the hormones of the mother and child. Swelling can persist for up to 10 months and is not considered pathological. The glands then go into a period of rest, which lasts until the onset of puberty.
Telarche
The average age of onset of puberty is 12 years. The onset of breast growth at 9 years of age is considered normal. These are the first changes that occur in a teenager’s body. In about a year you can expect your first menstruation. 13 years is considered the extreme age of Telarche.
Breast development may be one-sided. It is not known exactly why one breast grows and the other does not. But this asymmetry can persist for a long time. A difference of about 50 g is not considered a pathology. Often the left breast is more developed.
During adolescence, the difference between the right and left sides in most cases smoothes out. This usually takes 4 years. Therefore, in early adolescence at the age of 13, a girl of 17-19 years old has already formed mature breasts.
The Tanner scale is used to assess developmental stage:
- B1 - rest. The size of the gland is determined by palpation; it should not exceed 1 cm.
- B2 - the periosteum is enlarged and slightly elevated.
- B3 - the nipple becomes pigmented, and the growing breast protrudes beyond it.
- The increase in B4 glandular and fatty tissue gives the breast a balloon shape. A quarter of girls may not have this stage.
- B5 - the mammary gland completes its development; in profile it looks like a drop.
For most girls, this process is completed by age 17, and in some cases is delayed until age 18–21.
Stages of breast development according to the Tanner scale
Many factors can influence breast development:
- age;
- body shape;
- hormonal factors;
- genetics;
- Life style;
- eating habits.
Some of them can be influenced, while others cannot be corrected. Normal breast weight outside of pregnancy is 250-500 g. Hypoplasia is a slight change in this value.
The structure of the female breast
Nipples can have different colors: pink, dark brown, soft cream, etc. Most women have slightly protruding nipples, but some have them pressed inwards. The nipples on the two mammary glands are also different; there are no nipples that are similar to each other. Usually they are soft, but sometimes they harden, for example, when a woman is cold, excited, or breastfeeding her baby.
The areola, the ring around the nipples, is small at first but enlarges towards the end of puberty. Over time, coarse, short hairs begin to grow on the areola, just like on the pubic area and armpits.
Why do women need breasts?
Girls during puberty begin to worry about the appearance of their breasts. Every girl wants to have beautiful, neat breasts, because it looks beautiful and feminine. But nature provides that a woman needs mammary glands in order to feed her offspring. Man is a mammal, so he feeds the child with milk.
When the breast is fully formed, when squeezing under the palm, you can feel small lumps and irregularities. Girls during puberty begin to get scared when they feel something ribbed in their mammary glands. In fact, these are milk lobules and ducts, covered with adipose tissue, in which milk is formed during breastfeeding.
A woman's milk is produced under the influence of certain hormones. A breastfeeding mother's mammary glands increase in size to be ready to feed the baby through tiny channels located in the nipples.
This is interesting! The female body is designed so uniquely that hormones contribute to the production of large amounts of milk even at the mere thought of a newborn baby.
Previously unknown breast pathologies were found in every third girl
The breasts of a girl, a woman, have always been the object of close attention of men, and in this sense, nothing changes over time. True, modern women are increasingly resorting to increasing it in anticipation of the increased interest of the opposite sex. More often - at the cost of suffering, and sometimes even life. But you shouldn’t count on the fact that a woman’s breasts will grow along with an increase in a person’s overall height, experts warn. Yes, today's teenagers are, on average, 3–5 cm taller than their peers in the 30s of the twentieth century. The secret is simple: medicine has become more advanced, nutrition and living conditions have improved in general. But acceleration (from the Latin acceleratio - acceleration) also has its disadvantages. Firstly, internal organs do not always keep up with the growth of bones and skin, and secondly, in general, the maturation of the body is completed earlier.
So now girls’ mammary glands do not always begin to grow, as was previously the case, on average at 10 years of age; doctors note cases of breast development at eight and even seven years of age! This means that pathologies of the mammary glands will appear (and are already being registered) earlier. Of course, according to experts, breast development and growth largely depend on genetics, as well as climate (southern women develop breasts earlier and faster than northern women). Other experts are convinced that everything is individual, and much depends on the tendency to disease.
Cysts, stromas, striae... Where do they come from?
Our experts are concerned about the question of what to do so that breast pathologies do not plague young creatures who have not yet matured physically. Conducted in mid-March of this year. At the National Medical Research Center for Children's Health of the Russian Ministry of Health, examinations of the mammary glands in teenage girls from 12 to 18 years old using ultrasound surprised even the most experienced mammologists: breast pathologies were detected in every third (!) of them. This has never happened before.
A total of 186 girls completed this study, and 31% were found to have some kind of “bad” changes. What are these pathologies? 18% of them were diagnosed with asymmetry of the mammary glands (disproportion in their unequal shape or size); 20% have various types of cysts (capsules with liquid contents in the ducts of the mammary glands); in 6% - fibrocystic changes (strong proliferation of tissues and the formation of compactions with vague boundaries); 9% have mammary adenosis (overgrowth of glandular breast tissue), 25% have striae (stretch marks on the chest), which is one of the symptoms of hypothalamic-pituitary insufficiency.
By the way, stromas (indurations), which is not at all typical for a young age, were found in 3% of the cases examined. The rudiments of the mammary gland stroma, as experts explain, can reach large sizes and turn into a cancerous tumor. That is, the breast is not yet fully formed, but dangerous lumps have already formed in it. If you don’t pay attention to them, in the near future they will turn into cancer. Therefore, it is necessary to very carefully monitor breast development in teenage girls in order to identify pathology as early as possible.
“We conducted this study to attract the attention of specialists and society to the problem of increasing incidence of mammary glands in children and adolescents,” commented on the results obtained by mammologist-gynecologist of the National Medical Research Center for Children’s Health of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, candidate of medical sciences, associate professor Marina TRAVINA. “It’s a big omission that there are still no statistics on this pathology in our country. Moreover, the specialty “pediatric mammologist” is not even registered in Russia, and there are very few competent specialists in this field, especially in the regions.
And at the legislative level, the algorithm for mammological examination is prescribed only for women over 20 years old. But a girl begins to mature at the age of 12, and her breasts begin to grow 3-4 years earlier. And against the background of hormonal changes, certain disorders often occur in the body, including in the breast. But they remain undetected in the early stages and develop into serious diseases in the future. Mammologists at the National Medical Research Center for Children's Health are concerned about the increase in the number of various mammary gland diseases in teenage girls, ranging from juvenile cysts, mastopathy and fibroadenoma of the mammary gland to oncology.
By the way, in 2022, a 16-year-old girl was operated on in Moscow for breast cancer. But since cancer develops over several years, it would be in adolescence that its first symptoms could be identified. However, currently in Russia there is no necessary diagnostic system for this. Although such a system was expected.
Marina Travina.
Ultrasound - in the compulsory medical insurance program
“The most interesting thing is that clinical examination for early diagnosis of mammary gland pathology in children and adolescents is provided for and regulated by Order of the Ministry of Health of Russia dated November 1, 2012 No. 572n “On approval of the Procedure for providing medical care in the field of obstetrics and gynecology,” emphasizes Marina Travina. - But... The main method of such examination to this day remains the collection of complaints, examination and palpation (palpation) of the breast. Although due to increased breast density in adolescence, this is not enough. Only ultrasound allows one to assess the condition of all tissues and identify pathologies in the early stages, when there are no obvious symptoms yet. However (paradox!) Ultrasound of the mammary glands in children and adolescents is not included in the mandatory medical examination program, but is prescribed only if there are complaints.
We hope that the expert community, including the Russian Ministry of Health, will support the proposal of specialists to include ultrasound of the mammary glands in children and adolescents in the compulsory medical insurance program so that all girls can undergo a free examination at the age of 12–17 years. Ultrasound is the most informative and safe method of examining the mammary glands in childhood and adolescence. This procedure can be considered as a preventive measure, because pathologies identified in the early stages can be easily corrected and eliminated, and therefore preserve the health of future young women.
In principle, this proposal from an experienced mammologist will not even require additional financial investments; today, any hospital or clinic has these simple ultrasound machines. We just need to expand their use during medical examinations of teenage girls for the benefit of their health. So that in the future, when they become mothers, they can breastfeed their children. It is known that today many women in labor cannot feed their babies with breast milk. Why make the situation even worse?
By the way, in order to draw attention to this problem, specialists from the National Medical Research Center for Children's Health initiated hearings in the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation. The goal is to include the breast ultrasound procedure for teenage girls in the compulsory medical insurance system, which means that it is mandatory and free of charge. The hearing took place yesterday. Experts are in favor!
“It is important to raise parents’ awareness of this issue,” our expert believes. “Many people mistakenly consider ultrasound to be harmful to health, although the method is absolutely safe, it does not produce any radiation, and is used even when examining newborns. Specialists will continue to conduct awareness-raising campaigns for parents and teenagers. It is necessary to teach girls to adequately perceive their body, not to be afraid of changes in it, and to be able to conduct breast self-diagnosis at home.
The latter is very important. Not every teenage girl, and perhaps not every young woman, knows about breast self-examination. How, when and how often is it better to do this?
Breast self-examination made easy
Our experts are convinced that a measure such as breast self-examination is needed to reduce the increase in incidence. According to official statistics, in our country, about 30% of breast cancer cases are first diagnosed in women aged 18 to 35 years. Moreover, it can take up to 10 years from the asymptomatic course of the disease to obvious clinical manifestations, that is, the disease can begin in adolescence. This is confirmed by the fact that every year more and more children and teenage girls with various pathologies of the mammary glands are being seen by doctors.
We need general statistics on this matter for the country, on its basis it will be possible to formulate proposals, which can then be included as an addition to the order of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation dated November 1, 2012 No. 572n “On approval of the Procedure for the provision of medical care in the profile “obstetrics and gynecology”, which regulates diagnostic system for adolescents.
AT THE MIRROR
(DEVELOPMENT OF MAMMOLOGISTS)
Council of the Chief Mammologist of Russia, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor, Head of the National Center for Oncology of the Reproductive Organs of the Federal State Budgetary Institution "MNIOI named after. P.A. Herzen" by Nadezhda ROZHKOVA.
Undress to the waist in front of the mirror, lower your arms along your body and carefully examine your mammary glands. In particular, pay attention to the shape of the nipples and the skin around them, as well as changes in the color of the skin of the breast, asymmetry, increased venous pattern, etc. Then do the same, but with your arms raised up. First, raise your left hand and use the fingertips of your right hand to feel your left breast (do not bend your fingers). Start in the armpit and work your way down the breast toward the nipple. Then, moving vertically from top to bottom, continue the examination, starting from the inside of the chest to the armpit.
Do the same with the right breast.
Continue the same examination in a lying position. Place a pillow under your left shoulder and throw your left arm behind your head. Now feel your left breast with the fingers of your right hand, starting from its base and gradually approaching the nipple.
Feel the area between the chest and the armpit, and then the armpit itself, first by raising your hand up and then extending it along the body.
Next, gently squeeze the nipples one by one and check for any discharge.
Symptoms that indicate that a tumor has appeared in the mammary gland: lump in the breast and in the armpit; change in breast shape; nipple discharge; nipples are pulled inward; changes in the skin of the chest - it is wrinkled, folds have formed on it. And if you find one of these signs in yourself, you need to urgently contact a mammologist. For example, mastopathy in 90% of cases is detected during self-examination.
Important: breast self-examination should be performed monthly from the 6th to the 12th day from the start of menstruation. In addition to self-examination, every woman over the age of 18 must visit a mammologist or surgeon once a year in the first half of her cycle, who can also examine the mammary glands. After 40 years, do preventive mammography or ultrasound once a year, warns Nadezhda Ivanovna Rozhkova. As practice shows, many breast diseases begin asymptomatically.
How dangerous is surgery to change the size and shape of the breast?
Beautiful, firm breasts are a woman’s dignity, something that attracts the fascinated and admiring glances of men. But sometimes mammary glands cause a lot of trouble to their owner. For example, some girls develop too large breasts, which cause daily discomfort. The heaviness in the chest causes severe pain in the spine, neck, and back, and this feeling can be compared to how difficult it is to carry a heavy backpack if you put it on the front. Often this problem is solved by a properly selected bra with wide straps.
But sometimes the discomfort and pain simply cannot be tolerated, and in this case it is necessary to contact a plastic surgeon. There is breast reduction surgery - reduction mammoplasty. There are no clear definitions or criteria by which to determine how large breasts are. Some people are happy with size 6, but for others it’s an unimaginable burden that they want to get rid of.
Some women have complexes about small breast size. Usually, girls in adolescence begin to compare their body with the constitution of their girlfriends, look at pictures of sultry beauties on the Internet and glossy magazines, and it seems to them that their breasts are not beautiful and flat enough.
At this time, it is very important that the mother convey to her daughter that her body is unique, and over time the breasts will finally form, but for now it is too early to panic and look for a plastic surgeon. If from an early age a girl was praised not for her appearance, but for her actions and actions, by adolescence everything will be fine with her self-esteem, and questions about her appearance should not arise. If you have the slightest doubt, it is better to contact a psychologist who will help you figure it out, calm you down, and teach you to love and respect yourself.
If the mammary glands do not grow with age, or after childbirth the breasts sag and lose their shape, this can cause psychological discomfort to the woman. She begins to feel ashamed of her body, avoids sexual contacts, and wears a tight, full-length swimsuit at the sea and in the pool. Plastic surgeons offer breast augmentation surgery called mammoplasty.
In Norway, a girl can accept all manipulations regarding her own body when she turns 16 years old. Our legislation allows resorting to plastic surgery upon reaching adulthood. Psychologists say that it is better to wait until the body is fully formed, gain self-confidence, and learn to resist imposed stereotypes. Since girls often suffer from low self-esteem during adolescence, they need to be protected from making rash decisions that they are likely to later regret.
Volgograd residents suspected a 15-year-old owner of huge breasts of vile deception
The townspeople exposed the lady with prominent positions.
The young beauty forced residents of the regional capital to ask questions to which there is no clear answer. Painful and useless thoughts...
The girl posted her photo in a popular online community where Volgograd residents are encouraged to shamelessly brag about their achievements or external advantages. True, the author did not fit completely in the photo.
The schoolgirl's breasts are in focus. You can also see blue wallpaper and linoleum on it, but only women of traditional orientation have this opportunity - lovers of ladies are unlikely to be able to tear themselves away from the bust.
“I boast that at the age of 15 I have a size that is not small, which is not unimportant,” the girl wrote, “Notebook of Volgograd” has preserved the spelling and punctuation.
The opinions of Volgograd residents were divided. Some insist that the very fact of the appearance of a 15-year-old girl’s breasts on the Internet or some other public space is shame and horror, and the consequences will be terrible.
- She has. Make sure no one fucks you. Although it’s probably too late,” Alexander Ivanov was indignant.
“Then you can brag about your doll at 16 years old,” Alexey Lukashev echoes him.
“After the doll, she will stumble over them,” Kristina Raitseva went further.
– Judging by the life preserver on your belly, you need to eat less. 15 years old, prostitute only posts things like this,” Viktoriya Davydova panics.
Well, the second part of the commentators considered the issue from a completely different perspective. Was there, they say, a boy, or rather, breasts? After all, in the pictures from the girl’s page, her wealth is not that much wealth...
“The photo is not hers,” Vityan Gladchenko noted knowledgeably.
– Wet fantasies of a brat? Author, as I understand it, you dream of having these in order to place the dumplings more comfortably? – Larisa Aleeva put forward the theory
- Hmmm... Well, FAT. By the way, for some reason you can’t see the “rather small” size from the profile photos,” said the big-eyed Anna Verbitskaya.
- Liar. In other photos you have less, - Veronica Chudakova also sees everything
Among the commentators were peacemakers. Alas, it was not the men who showered the schoolgirl with compliments; they wisely (what if the breasts in the photo really only lived for 15 years) recommended that the girl study, and also reminded her of moral standards. But one single girl supported and said that there was nothing special.
– Just a pushup and a lot of paralon. Beauty,” Natalya Egorova put an end to the heated argument.
However, the eternal question - whether pushup is evil or good - remains hanging in the air.
But the phenomenon of dubious breasts became a reminder that not only men lie about the amount of their income, but also women like to exaggerate... News on Notepad-Volgograd
How to choose the right bra
The purpose of the bra is to support the breasts, lifting them slightly upward. It is up to the girl to choose whether to wear underwear or not, because only she decides whether she is comfortable in a bra or whether she can do without it. Some women are uncomfortable in underwear, others, on the contrary, feel unpleasant friction of their nipples on their clothes, so they always wear bras.
There are many types of bras that lift the breasts, slightly compress them, and support them during sports. There are underwear with underwires, natural ones, which visually slightly enlarge the breasts, sexy ones, etc.
When choosing underwear, wearing comfort is an important criterion. If the bra digs into the body, restricts movement, or causes pain, this model is not suitable and you need to choose another option.
The correct size is of particular importance. Typically, a bra size consists of a number and a letter: 75B, 80C, etc. Measure the circumference under the breasts and the circumference of the mammary glands at the protruding points. The underbust circumference is a number, and the circumference around the bust is a letter, which indicates the fullness of the cup. If your breasts are large, you need to carefully choose underwear, preferably with wide straps that will support the mammary glands.
