This past weekend I was watching a trailer for The Happening, the new M. Night Shyamalan thriller starring Mark Wahlberg, and I heard a woman behind me murmur, “Too freaky. I’m definitely not going to see that.” Her male companion snorted and retorted, “What’s freaky is under his shirt.”
Now, I’ve seen pictures of Mark Wahlberg shirtless and “freakin’ gorgeous” are the only words that come to my mind. “The dude’s got a third nipple,” the guy behind me whispered with undisguised disgust. “Eww!” screeched the girl, before being shushed.
A bonus nipple…really? My interest was piqued. When I got home, I googled “Mark Wahlberg third nipple” and, sure enough, there’s a photo of the stud muffin with what appears to be an extra nip on his left pec. I’d never noticed before, although I have to admit that when drooling over those Marky Mark Calvin Klein undie ads years ago I fixed my sights a tad lower. Or maybe ad execs also thought the extra nipple was freaky and airbrushed it out.
Apparently Wahlberg’s thripple is old news and he’s “come to embrace it,” unlike Chandler Bing, the character on Friends who decided to remove his “nubbin” as he called it. Honestly, until a female coworker told me after the Friends episode that she too had a nubbin, I thought third nipples were just a good punchline for a joke. I had no idea they really existed and that people were so fascinated by them. But trust me, they do and they are.
Even today supernumerary-nipple sightings are posted on the Internet regularly—from Zac Efron of High School Musical and Hairspray fame (he is alleged to sport four total) to pop star Lily Allen whose video of her baring her multiple-nipped boob on British TV has received, well, multiple hits.
There’s even a celebratory humor site called The Third Nipple, whose mission is “To help those people with additional nipples grow and function as productive members of society through knowledge, counseling, self-empowerment, and regular encouragement.” Its advice for those with accessory nipples: “Never talk about a nipple to the other two behind its back.” Apparently, nipples get hurt feelings too. Well, you know how sensitive they can be.
So, what really gives with the multiple nips? According to the National Library of Medicine, extra nipples are a minor congenital malformation that’s usually no cause for alarm or treatment. Depending on the estimate, 1% to 5% of folks have them (men and women), but they’re often not even identified as a real nip—just a freckle or mole, says WrongDiagnosis.com. In fact, people have been known to go to the doc to have what they think is a growth or birthmark removed and find out it’s a spare nipple. The third (or fourth or fifth or more!) typically pop up along what’s called the “milk line” below or above the normal nipple (picture your lactating dog), but some errant nips have also been found as far away as the groin.
These bonus nips don’t usually develop into functioning nipples (good news, unless you have triplets, I guess), but in some cases they do “activate” a little during puberty or pregnancy (although it’s rare), or get rubbed the wrong way by a bra or other clothing. They can be surgically removed in an outpatient procedure (referred to on Friends as a “nubbinectomy”). One study done years ago in Italy found a link between extra nipples and underlying kidney and urinary tract problems, but not to worry: No recent research has backed that up.
The bottom line is, if you are the lucky owner of a super nip or two, I say stand proud alongside the likes of Marky Mark, actress Tilda Swinton (Michael Clayton, The Chronicles of Narnia), and Krusty the Clown (of Simpsons fame). Stick out your chest and tell us all about it. Unless, of course, your thripple is on the bottom of your foot. In that case: Eww!
(PHOTO: ISTOCKPHOTO/HEALTH)
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Comments (4)
Your piece caught my eye! My triple-nippled ex-beau, a lifelong Tibetan Buddhist, viewed his bonus nip as a special gift, a calling even.
But more people have this than I’d thought. The BBC estimate is a whopping 1 in 18 people: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4566526.stm
What a fun read!
Your fellow Health.com blogger,
Libby
My 40 year old son was born with a third nipple and he just told his 37 year old sister tonight. Her comment was “eewwww” and didn’t believe it. He had to call me to confirm it. Believe it or not. I like the name “nubbin” and “triple” for them. I have passed along several sites from the web to both of them about triple nipples in males.
They say you should learn something every day, so if you didn’t know before, you just learned something new today.
My stepdaughter has two extra nipples. One near the underarm area of each arm. She did not realize this until she became pregnant. While she was lactating, the nipples oozed. She told me the “warts” under her arms had fluid coming out of them. She was afraid she had developed cancer.
when she showed them to me. I said, “Those aren’t warts, they are extra nipples.”
It doesn’t bother her much. But one time she went to the doctor and he made a comment about the growths near her underarm area. When she told him they were extra nipples, he left the room and in a very loud voice, that my stepdaughter heard quite clearly from the exam room, he announced to the nurse (and possibly to the whole office, that the lady in the exam room had two extra nipples and she could feed a whole litter!!!
Needless to say, she never went back to that doctor again!!!
Sandra
I got two more, one was visible and the other one was almost unseen to the time I developped my body hair, which clearly marked that area. My brother has four nipples aswell, however he has the two additional more developped as me. Thanks for this interesting article.
However, I am not sure how to react to the idea of removing them, as I have never thought about that… I would never let them be removed as they are part of my body and they stay there.