Mammography, Self-Breast Exams May Save Your Life
Mammography, Self-Breast Exams May Save Your Life
Self-Breast Exams
Women should know how their breasts normally look and feel. By being aware of how her breasts normally look and feel, women can develop awareness and notice changes in their breasts. The best time to examine the breasts is when they aren't tender or swollen. The breast self-exam is a way that you can check your breasts for changes such as lumps or thickenings. A self-exam includes looking at and feeling your breast. Although finding a breast change does not necessarily mean there is a cancer, any unusual changes should be reported to your OB/GYN physician.
How to examine your breasts:
Lying down, place your right arm behind your head and use the finger pads of the three middle fingers on your left hand to feel for lumps in the right breast. Use overlapping dime-sized circular motions to feel the breast tissue.
Use three different levels of pressure to feel all the breast tissue. Light pressure is needed to feel the tissue closest to the skin; medium pressure to feel a little deeper; and firm pressure to feel the tissue closest to the chest and ribs.
It is normal to feel a firm ridge in the lower curve of each breast. If you're not sure how hard to press, talk with your doctor or nurse.
Move around the breast in an up-and-down pattern, starting at an imaginary line drawn straight down your side from the underarm and moving across the breast to the middle of the chest bone (sternum or breastbone).
Make sure you check the entire breast area until you feel only ribs and up to the neck or collar bone.
Some evidence suggests that the up-and-down pattern is most effective for covering the entire breast without missing any breast tissue.
Repeat the exam on your left breast, putting your left arm behind your head and using the finger pads of your right hand to do the exam.
Additional breast changes can be detected by standing in front of a mirror while pressing firmly down on your hips.
Look at your breasts for changes in size, shape, contour and redness of the nipple and breast skin.
Examine each underarm while sitting or standing. Raise your arm slightly so you can easily feel the area. This tightens the tissue in this area and makes it harder to examine.
There is evidence that lying down increases a woman's ability to find abnormal areas. Doctors should discuss the benefits and limitations of breast self-exams with their patients. Women who practice self-exams should have their technique reviewed by their OB/GYN doctor.
Get Your Mammogram
The most effective way to detect breast cancer is by getting a mammogram. Research shows that getting a yearly mammogram can help catch breast cancer when it's most curable in its early stage. Mammography imaging uses a low-dose X-ray to examine the breasts. A mammogram aids in the early detection and diagnosis of breast diseases in women. The test is a noninvasive medical procedure and helps physicians diagnose and treat medical conditions.
The Benefits of Mammography
Mammography plays a central part in early detection of breast cancers because it can show changes in the breast up to two years before a patient or physician can feel them.
Breast imaging improves a radiologist's ability to detect small tumors. When cancers are small, more treatment options are available. Mammography increases the detection of small abnormal tissue growths confined to the milk ducts in the breast. Early tumors won't harm patients if they are removed at an early stage.
Mammography is the only proven method to reliably detect these tumors. It is also useful for detecting all types of breast cancer, including invasive ductal and invasive lobular cancer. Radiation doesn't remain in a patient's body after an X-ray examination and X-rays usually have no side effects in the diagnostic range.
Most organizations recommend screening mammography every year for women, beginning at age 40. Women who have had breast cancer, and those who are at increased risk due to a history of breast cancer in their family, should ask their doctor if they should begin screening before age 40, according to the National Cancer Institute. A clinical breast exam, performed at your local OB/GYN clinic, can complement mammography screening.
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