Researchers have found a 22-year-old woman with a full grown nipple on her foot. I don't know if a foot nipple is considered not safe for work, but I'm getting a strange tingling sensation thinking about the possibilities.

Click to enlarge.

While it seems straight from the pages of National Enquirer, the case was recently published in the scientific journal Dermatology Online. Many men and women have third and four vestigial nipples, running along the milk lines that go from the genitals to the breasts. This case is completely unique, however, according to the research paper:

A 22-year-old woman sought medical care for a lesion in the plantar region of her left foot, a well-formed nipple surrounded by areola and hair. Microscopic examination of the dermis showed hair follicles, eccrine glands, and sebaceous glands.


Fat tissue was noted at the base of the lesion. Clinical and histopathologic findings were consistent with the diagnosis of supernumerary breast tissue, also known as pseudomamma. To our knowledge, this is the first report of supernumerary breast tissue on the foot.


Witch's nipples

Third and fourth nipples are called supernumerary nipples, vestigial nipples or, in folklore, witch's nipples. Some people believed that witches used them to feed demons. In other cultures they were considered a sign of virility among men and fertility among women.


The fact is that many people have them, including King Henry VIII of England's wife Anne Boleyn, the actor Mark Walhberg and myself. Yes, I have one on my left side (pictured next to these lines). It's a full nipple, but it's very tiny and hard to spot. So much that my doctor had to point at it. You may have them too: Look for them a few inches below your real nipples, near the end of your ribcage.


There are other strange cases of supernumerary nipples. Reader Allyson Vincent shared a clip from a medicine journal talking about "a woman who had a supernumerary breast mass on her vulva." Will the wonders ever cease? I hope not. [Dermatology Journal via The Sun — Additional material via BBC and Wikipedia]