My nipple is peeling?!

[WifeofAnt]

Yep. I went to go take a shower and the bottom half of the left areola is peeling. Its not itchy or painful or anything but it looks really weird having the skin flake off. I've been hand-expressing a little in the shower to rub colostrum on them... that wouldn't cause it, right? I thought that was supposed to help keep them moisturized and I only occasionally use soap/body wash (but not on my breasts since I got pregnant). What's going on? Dr. Google isn't helping me much.

[MeghanG]

I actually had this happen when I was pregnant as well, though my flaky peeling bottom of my left areola was coupled with extreme itchiness. I discussed with my midwife who had never heard of such a thing and she prescribed an anti-fungal, which did nothing.
It all disappeared upon the birth of my daughter.

[Buddhamom]

I would put some lanolin on it.

[Caryliz]

Hmm. I had the same thing when I was pregnant with DS1, though it wasn't limited to top/bottom of the areola, or left/right breast. From time to time, in the last trimester, I just started noticing when I got in the shower that one or both nipples was peeling - not as bad as a bad sunburn, but still. I never had any itching, though, and at the suggestion of my MW I just rubbed them with a dab of olive oil from time to time. It all went away once DS was born and I was nursing.

[~Adorkable~]

Been having that on both areolas since early on this pregnancy, just figured it was a affect of all the changing they were going thru.

Seems to have tapered off quite a bit not that most of the big growing darkening changes have slowed down as well.

[Twinklefae]

It might also be dried colustrum peeling off - that's what I get.

[babygrey]

My areola are peeling and itchy, too. It is *really* annoying. I'm still nursing some and that exacerbates the issue, tho I did have it last pg when not nursing, too.
I made sure to have OB look at it to make sure it wasn't yeast (its not). Guess we can all add that to the list of annoying pg complications.
I've tried lanolin and didn't get any relief, tho ymmv. The only thing that helps mine is a cool wash cloth- soothes the itchy.

[pregnant@40]

Me too -- peeling and darker pigmentation bilaterally, just like w/ the first pregnancy.

[nixnux]

I peeled and peeled and peeled my whole first pregnancy. My nipples were really light in color by the time I gave birth. It was my first and thought they were supposed to get darker. Oh well. It hasn't happened with my subsequent pregnancies. Just one of those annoying things.