# Am I a freak? Or how common is an inverted nipple? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 3, 2005, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-freak-or-how-common-is-an-inverted-nipple/306735 "2005-06-03T15:44:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tikster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@Tikster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tikster)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2005, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-freak-or-how-common-is-an-inverted-nipple/306735/1 "2005-06-03T15:44:56Z")
Ok so one of my nipples are inverted. How many of you dopers share this fate with me? ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2005, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-freak-or-how-common-is-an-inverted-nipple/306735/2 "2005-06-03T15:47:37Z")
I hesitate to ask… What’s an inverted nipple? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2005, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-freak-or-how-common-is-an-inverted-nipple/306735/3 "2005-06-03T16:11:11Z")
It’s not that unusual. I’ve had several girlfriends over the years who had one inverted nipple. I liked it…innie and outie! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Brilharma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Brilharma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brilharma)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2005, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-freak-or-how-common-is-an-inverted-nipple/306735/4 "2005-06-03T16:12:34Z")
A friend of mine has a third nipple that is inverted, but he is the only one I know of. This could be just because it doesn’t really come up in conversation very often (“Hey, Jim! Are your nipples inverted?”). I couldn’t exactly describe it or tell how common it is, but there is some anecdotal evidence for you. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2005, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-freak-or-how-common-is-an-inverted-nipple/306735/5 "2005-06-03T16:20:21Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > It’s not that unusual. I’ve had several girlfriends over the years who had one inverted nipple. I liked it…innie and outie! 😃 I had a girlfriend with an inverted nipple, and she seemed mightily embarrassed by it, though I thought it was kinda cute and a turn-on the more I got used to it. I ended up writing about it (though not publishing–YET)–an essay about its heightened similarity to the female genitalia. ---
**Author:** ![PussyCow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/22d042/32.png) [@PussyCow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PussyCow)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2005, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-freak-or-how-common-is-an-inverted-nipple/306735/6 "2005-06-03T17:30:03Z")
I woke once with one of my nipples inverted. It scared the crap right out of me. I squeezed it like a pimple and it oozed back into its normal extrovert position. It has never attempted to do that to me again. ---
**Author:** ![Strinka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/strinka/32/512_2.png) [@Strinka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strinka)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2005, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-freak-or-how-common-is-an-inverted-nipple/306735/7 "2005-06-03T18:11:20Z")
Picture? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![DougC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@DougC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DougC)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2005, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-freak-or-how-common-is-an-inverted-nipple/306735/8 "2005-06-03T20:24:59Z")
- - - Mine are normal, you freak. All five of them. … - I understand now lots of girls with inverted nipples get them _pierced_, which hides/cures the problem, pierced nipples being better than inverted ones I suppose. ~ ---
**Author:** ![Lucretia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/13edae/32.png) [@Lucretia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucretia)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2005, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-freak-or-how-common-is-an-inverted-nipple/306735/9 "2005-06-03T20:28:02Z")
I had inverted nipples up until age 20, when I gave birth and started nursing. They never bothered me, it wasn’t until a doctor “reassured” me that they were a variation of normal that I even realized they were different. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2005, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-freak-or-how-common-is-an-inverted-nipple/306735/10 "2005-06-03T21:54:15Z")
Fully one third of all breasts I have seen and fondled have had inverted nipples. But then that does say more about the laws of chance than my sex appeal 😉 ---
**Author:** ![bob\_loblaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f19dbf/32.png) [@bob\_loblaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_loblaw)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2005, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-freak-or-how-common-is-an-inverted-nipple/306735/11 "2005-06-03T22:46:50Z")
ttiuwop! ---
**Author:** ![serious\_lark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@serious\_lark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/serious_lark)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2005, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-freak-or-how-common-is-an-inverted-nipple/306735/12 "2005-06-03T22:51:08Z")
You are emphatically not a freak. Based on a 1999 medical paper, I can tell you that the prevalence of this variant is 3.26% in a sample of unmarried Korean women between the ages of 19 and 26. Please see citation: [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list\_uids=10227917&dopt=Abstract](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=10227917&dopt=Abstract) Other variants of normal include absence of nipple(s), absence of breast(s), extra nipple(s) or breast(s). Medically speaking, inverted nipples can be an issue if (1) you want to breastfeed (may make it more difficult, but help is available) and (2) if your nipple was previously not inverted and becomes inverted, you need to get a breast exam +/- mammogram done to rule out an underlying breast cancer. Cite re: breastfeeding and types of flat/inverted nipples: [http://www.breastfeed-essentials.com/invertednipples.html](http://www.breastfeed-essentials.com/invertednipples.html) Some women end up surgically correcting the inversion to make themselves more happy with their self-image, but I like **pseudotriton ruber ruber** ’s point of view that inverted nipples can be considered as even more feminine/sexy than “garden variety outies”. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2005, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-freak-or-how-common-is-an-inverted-nipple/306735/13 "2005-06-03T23:10:58Z")
It’s not at all unusual, but you might still be a freak for some other reason. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2005, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-freak-or-how-common-is-an-inverted-nipple/306735/14 "2005-06-04T02:05:05Z")
I’m Japanese. My nipples invert. Matbe you are half-Japanese? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![monica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a183cd/32.png) [@monica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monica)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2005, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-freak-or-how-common-is-an-inverted-nipple/306735/15 "2005-06-04T02:08:38Z")
> [@serious lark](#): > > Other variants of normal include absence of nipple(s), absence of breast(s), extra nipple(s) or breast(s). :eek: Naturally? ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2005, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-freak-or-how-common-is-an-inverted-nipple/306735/16 "2005-06-04T02:21:32Z")
> [@ouryL](#): > > I’m Japanese. > My nipples invert. > Matbe you are half-Japanese? 😛 I never thought that’s what “turning Japanese” meant. ---
**Author:** ![serious\_lark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@serious\_lark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/serious_lark)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2005, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-freak-or-how-common-is-an-inverted-nipple/306735/17 "2005-06-04T04:32:40Z")
> [@monica](#): > > :eek: Naturally? Yep, I’m afraid so. For example, many people who have ‘extra’ nipples are not aware they have more than 2 nipples (more common in males, apparently) - they think that the spot(s) are moles. ---
**Author:** ![Tentacle\_Monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba9def/32.png) [@Tentacle\_Monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tentacle_Monster)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2005, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-freak-or-how-common-is-an-inverted-nipple/306735/18 "2005-06-04T05:51:26Z")
You know, those inverted nipples pop right out if you have someone suck on 'em hard enough. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2005, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-freak-or-how-common-is-an-inverted-nipple/306735/19 "2005-06-04T06:18:32Z")
Well, I’m sure it beats having an inverted pee-pee. 🙂 > [@](#): > > Fully one third of all breasts I have seen and fondled have had inverted nipples Fully 1/1 of my sampling were not, but what do I know? ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2005, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-freak-or-how-common-is-an-inverted-nipple/306735/20 "2005-06-04T07:07:14Z")
An old girlfriend had TWO inverted nipples. One on each breast; if she had extras I didn’t know about them. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-a-freak-or-how-common-is-an-inverted-nipple/306735.md?page=2)