What are the Most Common Causes of Swelling Under the Arm?

Very helpful. I will have a mammogram tomorrow! I have a swelling that is painful under my right arm. I didn't realize how important it is to have this looked at. Thank you everyone.

I have lymph nodes under my arm pit. They are painful. This is the second week and they don't seem to want to disappear. What could be the cause?

A few weeks back, I noticed a "pimple" like bump under my armpit and of course, it went away because it was a pimple or the start of an ingrown hair. Well, it is starting to come back and is tender around the area.

Does anyone think this could be the start of breast cancer? Breast cancer or any type of cancer does not run in my family unless self-inflicted such as lung cancer from smoking cigarettes for, at the very least, 50 years.

Please let me know what you women out there think, I am very scared because this bump has come back a second time only a few weeks after it went away. What do all of you think? --Beckie P.

My daughter is 11 and she has a very swollen armpit. It's been this for a few weeks now. We were hoping it would go down. It's not painful, either, so we're going to get her a doctor's appointment right away. I will let you know the outcome.

When I was at my annual exam, the doctor found a small swelling under my arm. I was not even aware that this was there. It was not tender or sensitive, but once she showed me where it was you could definitely feel it.

She scheduled me for a biopsy to see if it was anything I needed to be concerned about. The biopsy ended up negative and they said this was something that would not turn in to any kind of cancer.

It can be pretty scary to realize you have some swelling under your arm because there are so many lymph nodes there. It is something I would want to get checked out right away.

It's a little embarrassing, but if you are going for your physical at the doctor's office make sure you get someone to teach you how to do your own breast exams. It is a good idea to learn how to feel for your underarm lymph nodes because then you will know how to spot if they feel differently, get swollen or develop a lump.

One of the female nurses at my doctor's office taught me how to do a proper breast exam, and while it was a bit awkward I am glad I learned how to do one properly. It is reassuring to know your own body enough to spot if something dangerous develops early on.

There are a lot of people that run into trouble with heavily scented deodorants. When I first started using deodorant I picked the one that I thought smelled the nicest. It was richly perfumed and I liked that a lot. Unfortunately after that my underarms swelled and itched quite a lot.

My doctor told me that I had had an allergic reaction to some of the ingredients and that I should use unscented deodorants from now on. It wasn't a huge deal switching I just wish I had known sooner because the swelling hurt quite a lot. At least the medication my doctor prescribed did its job.

I have a cousin who is allergic to so many products. When she first started shaving, she found out that many types of shaving cream cause her skin to react violently.

She used a peach scented shaving cream under her arms. After she finished shaving, the area started to itch and turn red. Within an hour, it had swollen. It was very sore.

Her doctor told her to put bags of ice under her arm to ease the swelling. He also told her to take a strong antihistamine every four hours until she didn’t need it anymore.

After she recovered, she tried dry shaving, but she always seemed to cut herself this way. She started using a product formulated for sensitive skin, and she didn’t swell.

I am the worst at remembering to replace my disposable razors when the blades become dull. If I shave my underarms with a dull razor, I nick myself and bleed a little, and the cuts become sore for days.

Once I did this before going swimming in a lake. I could not apply deodorant, because it would burn the cuts. So, there was no layer of protection between my tiny open wounds and the lake full of bacteria.

I got an infection, but I did not know it right away. I thought that the swelling under my armpit was due to my cuts. When I got a fever and chills and the swelling increased, I knew it must be something more.

I told my doctor I had gone swimming after shaving, and she said I most likely got the infection there. She gave me antibiotics and told me to stay out of the lake when I have open wounds.

I have never experienced swelling in this area, but I have had swollen glands in my neck. This is probably because the areas of my body that become infected the most are my throat and ears. I seem to get strep throat several times a year, and I swim a lot, so my ears get irritated. The sides of my neck under my jaw swell up and become sore.

I would imagine that swollen lymph nodes under the arms feel much the same. I have a friend who is allergic to several types of deodorant, and hers will swell up for a couple of days if she uses one that bothers her. She says they get sore and tender, and it hurts to fully lower her arms down by her sides.

I agree. I think that when people think about breast cancer they usually don’t consider the lumps under the arm as a possibility for having breast cancer. I heard that it is important to do self exams especially in this area.

They say that you should have your arm raised and with the other hand work in a circular motion in order to detect swollen lymph nodes under the arm. If you do this regularly you will immediately be able to tell if something is not right.

Thank goodness my friend did this because when she got her mammogram results it came up negative, but she found a lump under her arm that turned out to be cancerous.

Very useful article. Thank you.