Carrie Underwood used to have three nipples...

According to Wikipedia, American Idol Carrie Underwood was born with three nipples too.

Carrie Underwood said (sorry no link -- the YouTube video has been removed) in her first American Idol audition, when Paula wasn't present, that she had a third nipple but had it removed even though it just looked like a mole.

These celebrities and their body modification... sometimes they just take it too far. Sure, nip this, tuck that, pierce here here and here, but dammit, don't go cutting off your nipples! Pink (Bob Geldof in "The Wall") cut his nipple off with a disposable razor and look how things turned out for him. (Hint: they turned out badly. He lost his freakin' mind. So don't cut off your nipples, okay?)

DJ "accidentally" removes third nipple

A moment of silence, please, for an extra nipple that's gone to a better place...

Jo Whiley has gone under the knife to have a third nipple removed.

The BBC Radio 1 DJ thought she was having a large mole cut off near one of her breasts.

But she says she was shocked when her doctor told her it was actually a mini nipple reports The Sun.

She said: "My husband has nicknamed me Scaramanga, after the James Bond baddie who also had three. Strange. On Monday I had three nipples, today I've got two."

Oh my word, I feel for your loss. I'd imagine it's how a telepath would feel if they suddenly lost all their mental powers. I'm glad your husband is sticking by you, now that you've got one less nipple.

Be warned, though: sometimes people who've undergone amputations report feeling in their non-existent limbs... the "phantom limb" phenomena.

If you feel it perking up on a chilly day, just try to remember the good times. We're there for you.

Calling Dr. Bell... Look at all these extra nipples!

Alexander Graham Bell was ready to answer the call of science -- especially when the subject of superfluous nipples came up.

From the Science Vault of Shelley Batts:

The Multi-Nippled Sheep of Alexander Graham Bell

Some say that American science is defined by its innovation and creativity, and who better embodies that than Alexander Graham Bell? Inventor of the telephone (strike that, first patenter of it!), founding member of the National Geographic Society and the journal Science, Bell's list of accolades is long and prestigious. Although, perhaps a little-known fact about this man was that he was also quite preoccupied with the nipples of the sheep that lived on his estate. After noticing that some sheep had more than the average number of nipples, he attempted to systematically breed them to determine the genetic underpinnings of the extraneous nipples. Luckily this precious information was published in Science in 1904, entitled "The Multi-Nippled Sheep of Beinn Bhreagh."

Beinn Bhreagh was Bell's estate near the town of Baddeck, Nova Scotia. When he purchased the property, some sheep came along with it. Or as he put it "I found myself to be in possession of a flock of sheep; and in the spring of 1890, one half of the lambs born upon the place turned out to be twins."

This higher-than-normal percentage of twins seemed a bit odd to Bell, who being a curious person, decided to examine the mothers of the twins and compare them to the mothers who had single births. And he did find a difference.

"Upon examining the milk-bags of the sheep a peculiarity was observed that was thought might be significant. Normally sheep have only two nipples upon the milk bag, but in the case of several of the sheep examined, supernumerary nipples were discovered....."

Bell further saw that the extra nipples were not functional, although some had three or four nipples instead of just two. Furthermore, the sheep that had extra nipples seemed to be more likely to bear twins (43% vs 24% for the normally-nippled sheep.) So he thought it'd be fun to "make an extended set of experiments to ascertain 1) whether, by selective breeding, the extra nipples could be [made functional], and 2) whether ewes possessing four nipples instead of two" were more fertile and were more likely to have twins.

As to the first goal, Bell's breeding program eventually yielded five and six-nippled sheep (and he expected seeing even more nipples, even eight!) and at least four of the nipples were functional. And sadly, his second hypothesis as to the multi-nippled sheep being more fertile, was disproven. Although, he felt that this had to do with the small sample size and noted that twins born to the multi-nippled mothers gained more weight although they were born smaller than normal. His hope was to impart upon the flocks of America genes from his sheep for "twin-bearing stock [which] would do much to promote this important industry by enabling farmers to make a double profit..."

Well whether that was ever accomplished, the article doesn't say, but Bell did mention an offer of free pamphlets to any interested members of the academy.

Yes, Alexander Graham Bell, born in Scotland, emigated to Canada, moved to the United States, and moved back to his estate in Canada for his greatest work, breeding sheep with extra nipples. I'm sure that's how he would have wanted to be remembered.

Crazy Nipplephobes are on the march...

Fly, my pretties, go get that Ubermilf!

Clearly, she's part of the ultra-right-wing conspiracy against tolerance and acceptance of what's clearly the greatest issue facing humanity today: the right to have a superfluous nipple.

Having an extra nipple is not a choice we make -- we're born that way. Or at least the lucky ones are. Do you think we just wake up one day and say "Man, I think today I'll have three nipples?" Jiminy, no!

Here's part of her hatemongering...

God created Adam and Eve, not Adam and Eve and Adam's Third Nipple. These people are not part of His plan. They shouldn't be able to adopt children, they shouldn't be allowed to teach children, and for goodness sakes, don't let them marry!

Save me Jeebus, from crazies like this. First of all, it hasn't been proven Adam and Eve DIDN'T have three nipples each... but it was probably only one of them. Someone had to pass that gene down to the rest of us. Eve, most likely, since hers always seem to be hidden by those leaves (what's she trying to hide?), but who's to say that some nipplephobe didn't airbrush Adam's extra nipple out of that painting on the Sistine Chapel? Dang revisionist painters...

Zac Efron has FOUR nipples!

Man, it seems like the latest crop of celebrities is packed with extra nipples. And today we add another to our ranks...

Zac Efron, of High School Musical fame, has two superfluous nipples just below the regular two.


In this pic of his 2007 vacation to Hawaii with Vanessa Hudgens (only two nipples on her, as you may have seen in the news recently), he clearly has two symmetrical supernumerary nipples just below the other ones.

Man, those paparazzi with their telephoto digital cameras do serve their purpose. After all, greater image resolution means that we'll soon be seeing superfluous nipples EVERYWHERE!

Extra nipples in the mail

Let us raise a glass to Jaime, a brave man full of confidence and the utter lack of shame needed to post a photo of your extra nipples on the Internet!

Jaime wrote me an email the other day (pics [AT] superfluousnipple [DOT] com) and basically took me to task for not having enough photos of people with four nipples on the site.

Well, Jaime, first of all, there are several. (here, here, and here.) Just because I've only got three nipples doesn't mean that's where I draw the line. Leah's got nine and we like her just fine. (Watch for her to steal the show in Extra Nipples: The Movie!)

So here, in the pursuit of parity, is Jaime and his four nipples.


Oh, and Jaime? Get a better camera. And some lighting. I can barely make out the third one, let alone fourth.

Of course, Jaime never gave me explicit permission to post his picture here, but hey -- he mailed it to me. Open season!

And for the sake of balance, here's mine. Note how it's in focus... not that that's necessarily a good thing. Damn, I should have shaved my chest first.



Call it what you will: accessory nipple, superfluous nipple, supernumerary nipple, third nipple, extra nipple... tons of us have them, and they're not going away.

Four nipples for Masuimi Max

Because it's been pointed out to me by several people in the know (and loyal readers of this blog, natch), I'd be remiss if I didn't post about another famous person with more than two nipples.

Masuimi Max, an, ahem, "model," doesn't just have three nipples, she's got four!

Now you'd think that it'd be easy to find a photo showing all four nipples, right? Especially considering that the standard two are all over the place...

Well, I've looked at dozens of photographs of the scantily-clad Ms. Max (tough work, being a blogger) and here's a mostly-clothed Masuimi showing off one of her extra nipples, just above and closer to the shoulder. The fourth nipple is symmetrically positioned on the opposite side.

Even the best pics I could find only show one extra. Maybe I should pay for membership on her website to find a clear shot of all four... they do promise a massive members-only photo gallery... all in the name of research, of course.

Superfluous Nipples on Facebook

Like it or not, social networking is everywhere. And if you're a member of a very small group, like people with three nipples, then it sure makes it easy to find others like you.

So far, there are three Facebook groups aimed at people with a third nipple. (Or a fourth nipple...)

Triple Nipple
The Triple Nipple Group

... and, the most newsworthy one...

EXTRA NIPPLES... THE MOVIE!

Yes, that's right, THE MOVIE. Dan Louw in London is just about done filming his documentary about his search for the answer to the age-old question: How come I have extra nipples?

Okay, so it's not age-old, and it doesn't apply to everyone, but you can damn well bet it's worth watching.

Find out more at VGoodFilms, or check out his Facebook group.

And we'll let you know when the film is done!

Caught on Video -- Lily Allen Exposes Her Third Nipple!

Here's the video of Lily Allen hosting the Friday Night Project.



It's at about the one minute mark, right after she asks what her and Prince Charles have in common and Alan Carr guesses, to be funny, that they both have three nipples. And Lily does!

Lily Allen has three nipples!

Okay, so now Lily Allen is at least as cool as Amy Winehouse in my books.

On June 29 she hosted The Friday Night Project, a sketch comedy show in the UK, and revealed that she, too, has three nipples. And she showed it off!

The video I was going to link to has been removed by YouTube, but it's true. Yay Lily!

The O'Debbie Awards at the Bowery Poetry Club

Why am I writing about the 3rd Annual O'Debbie Awards if it's held in New York's East Village and I'm about five thousand miles away?

Because I'm miffed, that's why.

Four years into the O'Debra Twins' open mic show, and they're holding their third annual awards show... including an award for "Best Third Nipple."

There it is, official news about my subject of choice. And the awards show happened last week.

And I don't know who won! (It wasn't me, but I bet whoever did was the coolest person there.)

If anyone out there has any photos, or know who won, do tell.

"Beauty has three nipples"

Okay, seriously, I have to write a new post just to get that foot off the first fold of the page. I have a feather at my desk and I just keep tickling it.

In other superfluous nipple news, here's a photograph in an exhibition by Joel-Peter Witkin. It's titled "Beauty Has Three Nipples."

Yes it does, Joel.


Photograph by Joel-Peter Witkin. (On sale at the Hasted Hunt Gallery, New York)

No, I don't get a commission. But I should.

Update: Foot Nipple!

And we have a new winner in the category of "Superfluous nipple in the most unusual place."



From the Dermatology Online Journal, Volume 12 Issue 4:

A 22-year-old woman sought medical care for a lesion in the plantar region of her left foot, a well-formed nipple surrounded by areola and hair. Microscopic examination of the dermis showed hair follicles, eccrine glands, and sebaceous glands. Fat tissue was noted at the base of the lesion. Clinical and histopathologic findings were consistent with the diagnosis of supernumerary breast tissue, also known as pseudomamma. To our knowledge, this is the first report of supernumerary breast tissue on the foot.

That is definitely not a mole. According to the case study, there was no change in the nipple during pregnancy (i.e. no milk leakage into her socks -- bet THAT wouldn't have smelled nice!).

But I'm still curious about the ticklish part.

P.S. In a previous post, I mentioned that "Mamma Erratica," a term that was used to describe superfluous nipples in an old medical text, was a pretty cool nickname.

In this recent publication, they used the term "pseudomamma" (false breast), which is almost as cool. Kids! Study your Latin! It's the wave of the future! Nolite te bastardes carborundorum!

Toe-tally Titillating Third Nipple

From The Register:

A third nipple usually occurs somewhere on the chest, but not always. Brazilian researchers recently reported the first case of a nipple occurring on (wait for it) the bottom of the foot.

The case is that of a 22-year-old woman. Her foot nipple was fairly well developed with “well-formed nipple surrounded by areola and hair”. Dr. D.M. Conde and three colleagues from the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics at the Hospital Estadual Sumare and the Universidade Estadual de Campinas in Sumara reported the case in May 2006 in Dermatology Online Journal.

I'm looking for photos of this one... I bet her feet are really ticklish!



*Titillating: from the Latin, titillare: to tickle

v. tr.

1. To stimulate by touching lightly; tickle.
2. To excite (another) pleasurably, superficially or erotically.

So yes, the "tit" in the word "titillate" DOES have a sort of double-entendre reference to nipples. That's why it's on this blog.