Lactiferous ducts
Ductus lactiferi
Endocrine & glandsGlandsThoraxLeft and right
View left in 3D View right in 3D
Shown on the female body.
- What it is
- One duct drains each lobe, converging on the nipple like the spokes of a wheel. Just beneath the areola each widens into a lactiferous sinus, then narrows again to open on the tip of the nipple through its own pore.
- Function
- Conduct milk from the lobes to the nipple; the sinuses hold a small reserve that the baby's first sucks release.
- Size
- 15–20 ducts, 2–4 mm in diameter, 5–8 mm sinuses; ~4–5 cm long
- Clinical note
- Bloody discharge from a single duct opening is usually a benign intraductal papilloma but always needs investigation; nipple-sparing surgery must preserve these ducts.