According to the book Grey’s Anatomy

“The surface of the nipple is dark-colored, and surrounded by an areola having a colored tint.  In the virgin the areola is of a delicate rosy hue; about the second month after impregnation it enlarges and acquires a darker tinge, which increases as pregnancy advances, becoming in some cases of a dark brown, or even black color.  This color diminishes as soon as lactacation is over, but is never entirely lost throughout life.”

So is this tru or is this some stupid Victorian-era crap the guy wrote?

As far as I know this is not true: colour of the nipple is genetically determined if I remember correctly. Could not find a reference when I quickly tried to Google for it though (any legitimite chance to Google for boobs is immediately taken up by me   ... )

Okay: it seems I was only partly right, and the story has some thruth if we can trust Wikipedia here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Areola

“Normal areola color ranges from light pink to dark brown with people with lighter skin tones tending to have paler areolae and people with darker skin tones to have darker areolae (though there can be considerable variation even for the same skin color); the size (diameter) also varies. Areolar color changes to a darker shade during pregnancy. Some regression to the original color may occur thereafter but part of the change is permanent.”

Warning: sometimes statements in Wikipedia are simply not true

Interestingly and coincidentally, my friend S. told me last night that, from her personal experience, once you’ve had kids, your nipples turn brown (from being pink), and don’t turn back. She’s not the most reliable of sources, though.

(Best not to ask what started that conversation…)

For the Love of God, I really can’t remember anymore what colour the nipples of my ex J. (1 kid, not by me) were…

And of course my dear Boo-babe, I do ask what started that conversation…

Well, Gray’s Anatomy does indeed say that, since it’s also in my copy of it (although mine doesn’t misspell “colour”  ).  Speaking from personal observation, I can say that in the one case of pregnancy I’ve been involved in (not counting the one where I was born, obviously), there wasn’t any colour change either during or afterwards.  But that’s the only pregnancy I’ve really paid any attention to, and that could have been an unusual case.  Sadly, most women around here tend not to conveniently wander around topless before, during, and after pregnancy for me to observe.

My mum says that nipples change colour from pink to brown when pregnant, and the colour change is more or less permanent. (She’s a doctor, by the way.)

I have also heard that if they get tanned they don’t fade back to pink.

I couldn’t let this thread pass without posting here… but I really don’t have much to add…

My wife’s didn’t change color much when she had our kids… I ought to know…. I look at ‘em a LOT!

N E O - 28 August 2006 07:04 PM

I have also heard that if they get tanned they don’t fade back to pink.

I wouldn’t know - I’ve never tried tanning mine. Too much chance of sunburn!

Madmouse - 28 August 2006 09:08 PM

I wouldn’t know - I’ve never tried tanning mine. Too much chance of sunburn!

Ow…

Madmouse - 28 August 2006 09:08 PM

N E O - 28 August 2006 07:04 PM

I have also heard that if they get tanned they don’t fade back to pink.

I wouldn’t know - I’ve never tried tanning mine. Too much chance of sunburn!

What, you mean that you don’t automatically get a full-body tan from the harsh penetrating rays of the Edinburgh sun, even through layers of clothing?!?

My wife’s were the exact same colour as her skin (so they were nearly invisible at times); when she tanned topless, they tanned the same way as the rest of her.  And they un-tanned again later the same.  And they remained the same when she was pregnant and afterwards.  So I suppose she was just weird.

I wouldn’t recommend that any of you womenfolk try tanning topless to test this for yourselves, though.  For one thing, all the skeptics here online might insist on photographic evidence to back up your claims. . .