ASANDA Ndende tries not to leave her house unless she has a doctor’s appointment.
This is because two growths under her armpits have become so large they look like extra breasts!
The 24-year-old from the Emthombeni area of Clermont in Durban, KZN told Daily Sun her life was depressing.
“It started in 2014 when I felt two tumours in my armpits.
“I didn’t pay much attention to them because they were not painful and I thought they would go away.
“But it all changed in August when I got pregnant. The tumours started growing and have become very painful.” She said she had been in and out of the RK Khan Hospital since then.
“At the hospital, they are currently giving me painkillers. They have booked me for surgery towards the end of May as they say I need to give birth first. It would be risky for me and the child to undergo an operation while I’m pregnant,” she said.
Asanda said she had visited a number of inyangas but no one was able to assist her.
Ncumisa Mafunda, spokeswoman for the KZN Department of Health, said: “The department has asked for a report from the health facility concerned, so it can be viewed by experts at head office.”
Dr Dumisani Zungu, a gynaecologist at the Maxwell Centre in Durban, said Asanda’s case is not rare.
“In most women in the sixth week of pregnancy a milk line is developed from the armpits which runs down to the groin.
“During the formation of that line nipples are also formed. In some women the nipples vanish after a few weeks but in others they grow into breasts,” said Dr Zungu.
He said the breasts don’t vanish completely after giving birth but women can go for removal if they feel uncomfortable.
