How a trek at altitude turned my patient’s breasts into a ‘Picasso painting’

REAL CASE: The 50-year-old conquered the Himalayas but experienced unusual and painful symptoms along the way, writes Professor Max Kamien
Woman in Himalayas

Lydia, a 50-year-old patient, had just returned from trekking in the Himalayas.

Her presenting complaint was that she ‘looked like a Picasso painting’.

She reported that her breasts began to enlarge at an elevation of 4000m and at 5000m they became hard, swollen and painful.

The pain was worse when she was stationary and cold, but slightly better when she was walking and warm.