Herbal products in the care and prevention of breast fissures: a systematic review

Aims: Breast fissure is one of the common reasons to refuse breastfeeding after giving birth. Reducing the healing time of breast fissures prevents breast problems. Herbal products are one of the care and treatment options for breast fissures. This study aimed to systematically review herbal products in the care and prevention of breast fissures. Methods: This systematic review was conducted by searching the keywords such as medicinal plant, complementary therapies, herbal therapy, herbal medicine, breast fissure, sore nipple, nipple fissure, and breast wound in databases including PubMed, Scopus, Web of Sciences, Cochrane Central, and ProQuest, and Persian meaning of these words in SID and Magiran databases without time limit until October 2022 was done. Results: Finally, 21 articles including 12 plants were reviewed. Most of the investigated plants improved nipple fissures and reduced the severity of nipple pain. The results of several studies on the effect of Aloe Vera on the healing of cracked nipples were consistent. Conclusion: Most of the herbal products used in the care of breast fissures were effective in healing fissures and relieving nipple pain. Various medicinal forms prepared from Aloe Vera were reported to be effective in treating cracked nipples in all studies conducted in this field. Due to the existence of contradictions in the results of some plants and the insufficient number of articles in other plants, it is necessary to conduct more studies to reach a reliable result.