Areolas can get bigger if you gain a significant amount of weight due to the stretching of the skin. The color may also lighten. If you then lose weight, the size may not change all that much (or at all), but the color may darken somewhat.
If you've lost significant weight recently, your areola may get smaller, but not as much you expect. Areola reduction surgery can help reduce the pigmented area around your nipples.
Weight loss or weight gain
A woman's weight can have a big influence on the shape and size of their breasts. Weight affects the amount of fatty tissue within the breasts. Gaining weight increases the fatty tissue within the breast and results in breasts enlargement.
There's no reason to be concerned. Big nipples are perfectly normal. There's no one way that nipples are supposed to look. Nipples come in a whole range of sizes and colors, from light pink to brownish black.
Hormonal Changes
Estrogen controls the growth of the ducts, which is why the areolas and nipples tend to get firmer and the ducts more prominent during the middle stages of the menstrual cycle (when estrogen levels are at their highest).
While there are a lot of reasons why nipples get erect, sexual arousal might top the list. More often than not, the first sign of sexual arousal in women is the swelling up of the nipples up to 25 per cent.
During breast development, trans women and others taking estrogen also notice changing nipple sensations. The nipple grows larger and more sensitive, and breast ducts appear on the nipple.
Is it OK to sleep in my bra? There's nothing wrong with wearing a bra while you sleep if that's what you're comfortable with. Sleeping in a bra will not make a girl's breasts perkier or prevent them from getting saggy. And it will not stop breasts from growing or cause breast cancer.
For some women, gaining or losing 20 pounds will make them go up or down a cup size; for others, it's more like 50 pounds.
A study conducted at the University of Vienna found that large breasts were about 24 percent less sensitive than smaller ones. This is probably due to the fact that larger breasts have more fatty tissue than glandular tissue, which is the more sensitive part, but that's not always the case.
Low testosterone levels can sometimes result in gynecomastia — a form of breast growth that affects men. Gynecomastia can cause your nipples to become swollen or tender. You may be able to feel a growth in the glandular tissue behind one or both of your nipples.
Swollen or tender breasts: High levels of estrogen in the body can make one's breast more tender and swollen especially around the nipples and front area. This happens because our breasts are sensitive to hormone changes.
This is a result of the hormone progesterone. In addition, the dark areas of skin around the nipples (the areolas) begin to swell. This is followed by the rapid swelling of the breasts themselves.
Falling oestrogen levels at the menopause make breast tissue dehydrated and less elastic, so breasts can lose their rounded shape and begin to sag. The change in shape can leave you with nipples that point downwards.
One is indirect: Stimulating the nipples, as in breast-feeding, releases the hormone oxytocin. This hormone, which is also released during labor, triggers uterus contractions.
Oxytocin release is responsible for the nipple becoming erect with excitement and stimulation, caused by contraction of smooth muscle underneath the skin of the areola which pulls on the overlying skin creating a goosebump-like effect.
The study found that the average nipple was 1.3 cm in diameter and . 9cm in height, about the size of a ladybug. If these measurements don't mirror yours – don't worry! It's perfectly normal to fall outside of this average, and size in no way affects your health.
Just like with breasts, there's no one way that nipples are supposed to look. Both nipples and areolas (the circular skin around your nipple) come in different sizes and colors, from light pink to brownish black. The color of your nipples usually relates to your skin color.
Your Weight
No matter how big or small your breasts are to begin with, a large proportion of the tissue is made up of fat. So it's no coincidence that your breasts get bigger if you gain weight. Similarly, if you lose weight, your breast size could change too.