dark nipple

[Slide931]

Ive had glandular surgery on my left nipple which made it look daker than my right one. Im almost 2 weeks post op. Will  the color of my left nipple turn back to normal?

[Dr. Elliot Jacobs]

Usually the nipples will darken in color after gyne surgery.  Don't know why one should darken more than the other unless they were different sizes to begin with.  Sometimes there can be a bruise on one nipple -- this will disappear like any bruise.

Dr Jacobs

[Slide931]

I only had surgery on my left nipple. Right side was fine. Will my left nipple's color return to its normal color?

[DrBermant]

Ive had glandular surgery on my left nipple which made it look daker than my right one. Im almost 2 weeks post op. Will  the color of my left nipple turn back to normal?

I addressed this questions in the past:

I notice from the pre-post pictures that after the surgery nipples usually darken in color. Do you know the reason of this color change and is it permanent? Thank you!!

Bruising can darken tissue, but with my techniques the bruising for my patients is negligible.  The most common cause is that the areola / nipple complex shrinks with surgery.  The same number of pigmentation cells in a smaller area darkens the tissue.

Here is a balloon demonstration of nipple / areola shrinkage typically seen with my gynecomastia surgery.  When a breast gets bigger, so does the diameter of the areola nipple complex.  Remove tissue from the breast and it is like this balloon deflation.  However, not all tissues shrink the same.  Tissue over stretched, older patients, scars, and gland remaining after gynecomastia surgery can limit this decrease.  Here is a demonstration of deflation with areola staying the same size.  That is why I prefer to target this gland first with my surgery.

Take your time to browse through the galleries of nipple areola pictures before and after gynecomastia surgery to see actual results for my patients.

The most common causes for increased pigmentation in my patients is as was mentioned above, the shrinking of the areola: the same number of pigment cells concentrated in a smaller area.

Another for darker tissues include bruising. As bruising resolves, iron pigment can permanently stain and darken tissues.  That is why minimal bruising techniques can be so critical.

Tanning healing tissues can also result in permanent darker pigmentation as healing tissues may not give up the pigmentation of tanning.

The last cause of darker tissues, is dead tissues which as they die tend to turn black.

Hope this helps,

Michael Bermant, MD
Learn More About Gynecomastia and Male Breast Reduction