What is a tubular breast deformity?

Tubular breast deformities can be a very distressing problem for women because the breasts appear abnormal in both size and shape. Characteristics of a tubular breast deformity usually include fat that herniates, or intrudes, into the nipple areolar complex making it look puffy and distended. Flattening of the lower pole of the breast with a loss or absence of breast tissue causes a flattening of the entire lower portion of the breast so that it doesn't appear round in shape and is, in effect, tubular. The fold at the bottom of the breast (inframammary fold) is often either poorly defined or not defined at all.

Tubular breasts can appear in either one or both breasts. They can also be associated with Poland syndrome, in which the patient has an absence of the complete, or portions of, the pectoralis major muscle and a very small breast, causing severe chest deformity.