Breast Anatomy

Breasts are breasts, and that is what most woman or even men know about the breast anatomy. The general consensus is that female breast anatomy is for milk, with milk-producing tear shaped glands. The anatomy of a breast shows that ligaments hold them up, while they rest on the major chest muscle known as the pectoralis major. Fortunately, the breasts have no muscle tissue, only layers of fat which surround the glands and fill out the breast area.

In the human anatomy female breasts, fifteen to twenty lobes that are covered by fat give the breast its shape and size, meaning that different sized lobes and varying levels of fat amount cause this change in the breasts. The end of these lobes is where the milk is produced in response to the signals from the body’s hormones. The lobular units are made of terminal ductals, with 80% if all breast cancer infiltrating the breast with ductals epithelium. Carcinoma of the breast will affect one out of eight to one out of twelve women in their life.

The anatomy of the breast, in particular the anatomy of the female breast, shows that the breast is responsive to three major hormones—estrogen, progesterone, and prolactin. They cause the breasts to swell or change during menstrual cycles, when pregnancy is occurring, or menopause is developing in later years, and can also cause glandular tissue in the uterus to also change during the cycle. In breast anatomy pictures, the areola is shown as a slightly circular darker-colored pigment around the nipple area on anatomy breast work. These different colored pigments and size of the areola depends on the woman, their race, and their own pigment color.

The anatomy of a male breast is similar to that of the anatomy of female breasts, with the normal breast of the male consisting of muscle, fat, and skin. Because of the “male look” which is desired by most men, instead of the softer female look, exercise is important for the tone of the muscles in a man. What is not desired is the excess fat or glands, which can cause the female breast shape in the man, much to his dismay! Exercise and diet can control this, but not with glandular tissues.

Other terms to search for in regard to breast anatomy and breast health are breast anatomy innervation, breast tissue anatomy, anatomy & physiology of the breast, and anatomy of breasts.