This site is intended for healthcare professionals

Go to /sign-in page

You can view 5 more pages before signing in

Peau d'orange

Last reviewed dd mmm yyyy. Last edited dd mmm yyyy

Authoring team

Peau d'orange describes the characteristic appearance of skin overlying a breast carcinoma. It is due to invasion of the axillary lymphatics by tumour producing obstruction and subsequently, oedema of the overlying skin. This creates an orange peel appearance.

Overlying a breast lump, this appearance is almost pathognomonic of carcinoma. The differential diagnosis is inflammatory breast cancer where localised oedema may result from obliteration of cutaneous lymphatics by tumour cells.


Related pages

Create an account to add page annotations

Add information to this page that would be handy to have on hand during a consultation, such as a web address or phone number. This information will always be displayed when you visit this page