The most common breast infection is called mastitis. It is usually seen in women who are nursing. The cause is skin bacteria, usually staph, that invades the milk ducts and causes a cellulitis, or skin infection. It is very painful (as you probably know) but fortunately is relatively easy to treat with antibiotics. I haven't heard that much about residual problems, but it sounds like someone on here has suffered from that (I'm sorry!!)

Any kind of surgery or foreign body (ie: breast implants) can have an associated infection. Usually infections related to surgery are shortly after the surgery, due to a wound infection. Once the surgical wound has healed and the skin is intact, the chance of wound infection is basically zero. So, if the lumpectomy was more than a few weeks ago, that isn't likely to be a source of infection. Breast implants sometimes have infection immediately after being placed, if there was any lack of sterility at the time of placement. Bloodstream bacterial infections can also "seed" on any artificially implanted device (ie: prosthetic joints, etc), including breast implants. An infection of an implanted device is generally very serious and requires immediate removal of the object.

Hope this helps, and hope everything went well!

Love,
Cindy

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Thank you, sir, may I have another?