Breast self-examination is extremely important - it allows you to detect even small changes, especially nodules that require further diagnosis. It is best to examine the breasts once a month, between the sixth and ninth day of the cycle. It is good when it will always be the same day, e.g. the seventh. How to self-examine your breasts? How do you feel a lump in your breasts? Here is the instruction on how to perform a breast self-examination.

Breast self-examinationis a very important element of breast cancer prevention. It allows for the detection of changes at an early stage of the neoplastic disease, when the chances of a cure are the greatest. The diameter of the lump found in women who have never examined their breasts themselves is 40 mm, and in women who perform breast self-examination at least every month, it is 12 mm.

According to some specialistssystematic breast self-examination can significantly reduce mortality from breast cancer .

Most lumps women feel in their breasts are not breast cancer, but harmless cysts and fibroids. You need to watch them closely, visit the gynecologist regularly, but don't panic.

Some doctors even claim that single or even multiple lumps in the breasts of modern women are just a variation of the norm. Mastopathy, because this is what medics define nodular changes in the breasts, occurs in over 50 percent of women aged 20-60.

Breast self-examination - general rules

Self-examination of the breast is not difficult. It consists of two main stages: breast inspection and palpation. To make it you will need: a mirror, a shower and a bed.

Breast self-examination is recommended:

  • from the age of 20
  • once a month
  • preferably one week after menstruation, when the breasts are not sore or swollen
  • women in the period of menopause should check their breasts on the same days every month (e.g. on the first Saturday of the month)
  • self-examination should be carried out carefully and without rush. It should include examining the breasts in a mirror and palpation, both in a standing and lying position.

Breast self-examination - watching in front of the mirror

1. Raise both hands up and check for changes in breast shape and skin color.See if the skin is wrinkled and the nipples are not retracted. Pay particular attention to the part of the breast at the armpit.

2. Place your hands on your hips and make the same observations. Observations can be made in several positions: not only with your hands on your hips and with your arms up, but also with your arms down. You can also lean forward 3. Squeeze the nipples one by one and see if any fluid is leaking from them.

Breast self-examination - palpation in the shower

Moist skin makes it easier to feel any changes.

1. Place your left hand on the back of your head and your right hand on your left breast. Using light pressure with three middle fingers, make tiny circles around your breasts. Examine the breast by making circular movements in each direction. Make a circle around your entire chest. Mark the smaller circles in sequence towards the nipple.

Also move your fingers in a semicircular and linear direction without missing any area on the chest or armpits. Palpate the breasts only with the pads of the three middle fingers of a flatly placed hand. Such an arrangement makes it easier to find changes.

2. Do the same for the other breast. With your right hand behind your head, use the fingers of your left hand to examine the right breast and armpit. Check for lumps or lumps.

Prevention - how to recognize breast cancer?

Breast self-examination - palpation in the supine position

During the examination, the woman should remain supine all the time so that the weaving of the breast glands is flattened as much as possible in relation to the chest.

1. Lie down on the bed flat, without a pillow. Slip a rolled-up towel under your left shoulder, and put your left hand under your head. Use the three middle fingers of your right hand to examine the left breast. Make the same movements as in the shower. Repeat the same with the other breast.

2. While lying down, examine your right armpit with your left hand, then examine your left armpit with your right hand. This is how it is checked if the lymph nodes are enlarged, and if there are no lumps under the fingers.

The gynecologist explains how to examine the breasts herself

Source: x-news.pl/Dzień Dobry TVN

Breast self-examination - when to see a doctor?

Report to the doctor when:

  • you notice a change in the size or shape of your breasts
  • your breast skin will be red, thickened, discolored or eroded
  • you will feel a lump in your breast
  • the nipple will become retracted or protruding
  • you notice a nipple discharge - bloody, colorless or milky (not for lactating women)
  • the outline of the areola will change
  • the veins on the breast will enlarge
  • there is arm swelling, visible enlargement of the lymph nodes in the armpit.

Harmless changes in breasts

Fibroids are hard, painless lumps that are easy to feel with your fingers and seemingly easy to move. They form when the mammary glands thicken, possibly as a result of mild hormonal changes.

They are more common in young women (over 20), although they also appear in mature women. They usually appear around the nipple and slightly more often in the left breast, at the top of the outside. They have a specific structure and are easy to recognize after ultrasound. Rather, they are not removed surgically.

With time, most fibroadenomas disappear on their own. Drug treatment is used when the changes in the breasts are very painful.

Cysts - fluid-filled spherical formations - are not considered lesions. They arise when the mammary tract or gland is blocked, for example, by food, fat or plasma. If there are many cysts, the breast feels like orange flesh to the touch. Cysts are most common in women between the ages of 30 and 50.

A physician suspecting cysts needs to do ultrasound and fine needle aspiration biopsy to confirm the initial diagnosis. In fact, small cysts are not treated. The fluid is removed from the larger and painful ones, and it is always tested in the laboratory for the presence of neoplastic cells.

Changes in the appearance of the nipples - you need to show the doctor quickly. Their cause may be atrophy or significant expansion of the milk ducts. It happens in the fifth and sixth decades of a woman's life.

Flaky, red and itchy skin may be a sign of eczema - an allergy that often occurs after treatment with hydrocortisone. These symptoms should not be taken lightly, because they can easily be confused with Paget's cancer, a slowly developing cancer that manifests itself as the peeling of the epidermis on the side of the nipple.

The text uses excerpts from the article by Anna Jarosz from the monthly "Zdrowie".

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