An association of cigarette smoking with recurrent subareolar breast abscess.

In a series of 60 patients suffering from recurrent subareolar breast abscess (RSBA) heavy cigarette smoking was found at an unusually high frequency compared to a control group. In contrast with findings reported in the literature no relation was found with parity, oral contraceptive use or nipple retraction. The strong association of cigarette smoking and RSBA with a relative risk of 9.2 (3.6-23.5) for a light smoker and of 26.4 (9.9-70.2) for a heavy smoker counterbalances possible bias introduced by the retrospective analysis and by the hospital control group. The pathogenesis of RSBA is still not established. Cigarette smoking could have either a direct toxic effect on the retroareolar lactiferous ducts or an indirect effect via hormonal stimulation of the breast secretion; both hypotheses could explain the recurrent aspect of the disease.