Nipple adenomas may be felt as a lump under the nipple or areola. They may come to attention because of nipple pain, ulceration, swelling or discharge.

Symptoms are not specific; most patients report itching, burning, and soreness. A small subset of patients may be asymptomatic. Presence of vulvar pain, bleeding, and tumor formation are reported to be more common in patients affected by invasive disease.Signs and symptoms are skin lesions, often mistaken as eczema, that may be itchy or painful.

The changes in fibrocystic breast disease are characterised by the appearance of fibrous tissue and a lumpy, cobblestone texture in the breasts. These lumps are smooth with defined edges, and are usually free-moving in regard to adjacent structures. The bumps can sometimes be obscured by irregularities in the breast that are associated with the condition. The lumps are most often found in the upper, outer sections of the breast (nearest to the armpit), but can be found throughout the breast. Women with fibrocystic changes may experience a persistent or intermittent breast aching or breast tenderness related to periodic swelling. Breasts and nipples may be tender or itchy.

Symptoms follow a periodic trend tied closely to the menstrual cycle. Symptoms tend to peak in the days and, in severe cases, weeks before each period and decrease afterwards. At peak, breasts may feel full, heavy, swollen, and tender to the touch. No complications related to breastfeeding have been found.

Paget's disease of the breast can affect the nipple and areola. Symptoms typically only affect one breast. Symptoms may include:

- "Skin." The first symptom is usually an eczema-like rash. The skin of the nipple and areola may be red, itchy and inflamed. After a period of time, the skin may become flaky or scaly.

- "Discharge." A discharge, which may be straw-colored or bloody, may ooze from the area.

- "Sensation." Some women have a burning sensation. These symptoms usually occur in more advanced stages, when serious destruction of the skin often prompts the patient to consult. Lumps or masses in the breast occur in 50% of the patients. In more advanced stages, the disease may cause tingling, increased sensitivity and pain.

- Nipple changes. The nipple may turn inwards be inverted.

- Breast changes. There may or may not be a lump in the breast, and there may be redness, oozing and crusting, and a sore that does not heal.

The symptoms usually affect the nipple and then spread to the areola and then the breast. It is common for the symptoms to wax and wane.

Most women do not visit the doctor because they assume Paget's disease to be minor contact dermatitis or eczema. A lump or skin irritation that does not seem to heal for over a month indicates that attention by a specialist is needed.

Nipple adenomas most commonly occur in 30- to 40-year-old women, but can also occur in men. They can also occur at any age, including in the elderly, in adolescence, and in infants.

Benign lymphoepithelial lesion is a type of benign enlargement of the parotid and/or lacrimal glands. This pathologic state is sometimes, but not always, associated with Sjögren's syndrome.

Vulvar Paget disease presents as a variety of clinical lesions that may occur over a protracted course. Initially it is velvety, soft, and red or bright pink with scattered white islands of hyperkeratosis. (a strawberry and cream appearance) The lesions become erythematous, plaque like, and desquamating especially when located in dry areas. Rarely the appearance is ulcerated. The borders appear irregular, slightly elevated, and sharply demarcated. The visible borders of vulvar Paget disease are often misleading as Paget cells may spread along the basal layers of normal appearing skin with multicentric foci. Involvement may be extensive including the perianal region, genitocrural, and inguinal folds. Clinical examination should determine the presence of periurethral and perianal lesions. In these cases an involvement of the skin by a noncutaneous internal neoplasm may occur.

Salivary gland hyperplasia is hyperplasia of the terminal duct of salivary glands.

There are two types:

- Acinar adenomatoid hyperplasia

- Ductal adenomatoid hyperplasia

The typical presentation is a rapidly growing mass with associated pain. This may be seen in association with neck lymph node swelling (cervical lymphadenopathy), due to metastases, and facial nerve paralysis.

Also called Zuska's disease (only nonpuerperal case), subareolar abscess is a subcutaneous abscess of the breast tissue beneath the areola of the nipple. It is a frequently aseptic inflammation and has been associated with squamous metaplasia of lactiferous ducts.

The term is usually understood to include breast abscesses located in the retroareolar region or the periareolar region, but not those located in the periphery of the breast.

Subareolar abscess can develop both during lactation or extrapuerperal, the abscess is often flaring up and down with repeated fistulation.

Benign lymphoepithelial lesion is most likely to occur in adults around 50 years of age. There is a predilection for gender with 60–80% being female. The gland affected has a diffuse swelling. The swelling can be asymptomatic, but mild pain can also be associated. There is a preponderance of this disease in those who suffer from HIV infection.

Most cases of benign lymphoepithelial lesions appear in conjunction with Sjögren's syndrome. When Sjögren's syndrome is present, the swelling is usually bilateral. Otherwise, the affected glands are usually only on one side of the body.

In many cases, a biopsy is needed to distinguish benign lymphoepithelial lesions from sialadenosis (sialosis).

In ICD-10 the condition is called "diffuse cystic mastopathy", or, if there is epithelial proliferation, "fibrosclerosis of breast". Other names for this condition include "chronic cystic mastitis", "fibrocystic mastopathy" and "mammary dysplasia". The condition has also been named after several people (see eponyms below). Since it is a very common disorder, some authors have argued that it should not be termed a "disease", whereas others feel that it meets the criteria for a disease. It is not a classic form of mastitis (breast inflammation).

90% of cases are smokers, however only a very small fraction of smokers appear to develop this lesion. It has been speculated that either the direct toxic effect or hormonal changes related to smoking could cause squamous metaplasia of lactiferous ducts. It is not well established whether the lesion regresses after smoking cessation.

Extrapuerperal cases are often associated with hyperprolactinemia or with thyroid problems. Also diabetes mellitus may be a contributing factor in nonpuerperal breast abscess.

Fibroadenomas, are benign breast tumours characterized by an admixture of stromal and epithelial tissue. Breasts are made of lobules (milk producing glands) and ducts (tubes that carry the milk to the nipple). These are surrounded by glandular, fibrous and fatty tissues. Fibroadenomas develop from the lobules. The glandular tissue and ducts grow over the lobule to form a solid lump.

Since both fibroadenomas, and breast lumps as a sign of breast cancer can appear similar, it is recommended to perform ultrasound analyses and possibly tissue sampling with subsequent histopathologic analysis in order to make a proper diagnosis. Unlike typical lumps from breast cancer, fibroadenomas are easy to move, with clearly defined edges.

Fibroadenomas are sometimes called breast mice or a breast mouse owing to their high mobility in the breast.

Salivary gland tumours usually present as a lump or swelling in the affected gland which may or may not have been present for a long time. The lump may be accompanied by symptoms of duct blockage (e.g. xerostomia). Usually, in their early stages it is not possible to distinguish a benign tumour from a malignant one. One of the key differentiating symptoms of a malignant growth is nerve involvement. For example signs of facial nerve damage (e.g facial palsy) are associated with malignant parotid tumours. Facial pain, and paraesthesia are also very often associated with a malignant tumours. Other red flag symptoms which may suggest malignancy and warrant further investigation are fixation of the lump to the overlying skin, ulceration and induration of the mucosa.

SDC are diagnosed by examination of tissue, e.g. a biopsy.

Their histologic appearance is similar to ductal breast carcinoma.

It is important to correctly identify, as it can be confused with atypical ductal hyperplasia, cribriform ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), and adenoid cystic carcinoma.

In breast pathology, pseudoangiomatous stromal hyperplasia, commonly abbreviated PASH, is an overgrowth of myofibroblastic cells and has an appearance similar to fibroadenomatoid changes.

The diagnostic significance is currently uncertain, but it appears to be benign. There have been cases of PASH diagnosed where the tumors co-exist with breast cancer. Other cases have made screening for breast cancer difficult and in some cases impossible due to the number and density of the existing PASH tumors. These cases have resulted in the necessity of a mastectomy and double mastectomy.

Collagenous spherulosis, also mucinous spherulosis and simply spherulosis, is a benign finding in breast pathology. It is almost always an incidental finding, though it is occasionally associated with calcifications, which may lead to a biopsy.

Characteristic for granulomatous mastitis are multinucleated giant cells and epithelioid histiocytes around lobules. Often minor ductal and periductal inflammation is present. The lesion is in some cases very difficult to distinguish from breast cancer.

The term nonpuerperal mastitis describes inflammatory lesions of the breast (mastitis) that occur unrelated to pregnancy and breastfeeding.

It is sometimes equated with duct ectasia, but other forms can be described.

The typical case is the presence of a painless, firm, solitary, mobile, slowly growing lump in the breast of a woman of child-bearing years.

In the male breast, fibroepithelial tumors are very rare, and are mostly phyllodes tumors. Exceptionally rare case reports exist of fibroadenomas in the male breast, however these cases may be associated with antiandrogen treatment.

Hyperplasia (from ancient Greek ὑπέρ "huper", "over" + πλάσις "plasis", "formation"), or hypergenesis, is an increase in the amount of organic tissue that results from cell proliferation. It may lead to the gross enlargement of an organ and the term is sometimes confused with benign neoplasia or benign tumor.

Hyperplasia is a common preneoplastic response to stimulus. Microscopically, cells resemble normal cells but are increased in numbers. Sometimes cells may also be increased in size (hypertrophy). Hyperplasia is different from hypertrophy in that the adaptive cell change in hypertrophy is an increase in the "size" of cells, whereas hyperplasia involves an increase in the "number" of cells.

Ductal carcinoma is a type of tumor that primarily presents in the ducts of a gland.

Types include:

- Mammary

- Ductal carcinoma in situ

- Invasive ductal carcinoma

- Pancreatic ductal carcinoma

Due to the diverse nature of salivary gland tumours, many different terms and classification systems have been used. Perhaps the most widely used currently is that system proposed by the World Health Organization in 2004, which classifies salivary neoplasms as primary or secondary, benign or malignant, and also by tissue of origin. This system defines five broad categories of salivary gland neoplasms:

Benign epithelial tumors

- Pleomorphic adenoma

- Warthin's tumor

- Myoepithelioma

- Basal cell adenoma

- Oncocytoma

- Canalicular adenoma

- Lymphadenoma

- "Sebaceous lymphadenoma"

- "Nonsebaceous lymphadenoma"

- Ductal papilloma

- "Inverted ductal papilloma"

- "Intraductal papilloma"

- "Sialadenoma papilliferum"

- Cystadenoma

- Malignant epithelial tumors

- Acinic cell carcinoma

- Mucoepidermoid carcinoma

- Adenoid cystic carcinoma

- Polymorphous low-grade adenocarcinoma

- Epithelial-myoepithelial carcinoma

- Clear cell carcinoma, not otherwise specified

- Basal cell adenocarcinoma

- Sebaceous carcinoma

- Sebaceous lymphadenocarcinoma

- Cystadenocarcinoma

- Low-grade cribriform cystadenocarcinoma

- Mucinous adenocarcinoma

- Oncocytic carcinoma

- Salivary duct carcinoma

- Salivary duct carcinoma, not otherwise specified

- Adenocarcinoma, not otherwise specified

- Myoepithelial carcinoma

- Carcinoma ex pleomorphic adenoma

- Mammary analogue secretory carcinoma

- Carcinosarcoma

- Metastasizing pleomorphic adenoma

- Squamous cell carcinoma

- Large cell carcinoma

- Lymphoepithelial carcinoma

- Sialoblastoma

- Soft tissue tumors

- Hemangioma

- Hematolymphoid tumors

- Hodgkin lymphoma

- Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma

- Extranodal marginal zone B cell lymphoma

- Secondary tumors (i.e. a tumor which has metastasized to the salivary gland from a distant location)

Others, not included in the WHO classification above, include:

- Intraosseous (central) salivary gland tumors

- Hybrid tumors (i.e. a tumor displaying combined forms of histologic tumor types)

- Hybrid carcinoma

- Others

- Others

- Keratocystoma

- Sialolipoma