Breast self-examination eliminates health risks

Every woman wishes to have healthy and full breasts, but there will always be some diseases that disturb her lifelong happiness. To prevent these lesions, you must first learn to self-examine your breasts.

Breast self-examination

Breast examination should first observe the development of the mammary gland, whether the breasts on both sides are symmetrical, whether they are similar in size, whether the nipples on both sides are at the same level, whether the nipples are retracted and sunken; whether the nipples and areolas are eroded, the color of the breast skin, whether there is edema and orange peel-like changes, whether there are inflammatory manifestations such as redness and swelling, whether the superficial veins in the mammary gland area are dilated, etc.

Best time for examination: For women with normal menstruation, the best time for breast examination is 9 to 11 days after menstruation. At this time, the effect of estrogen on the breast is minimal, the breast is in a relatively static state, and lesions are easy to detect. If a lump appears during lactation and is clinically suspected to be a tumor, further examination should be conducted after weaning.

Breast lumps

Breast lumps are the main symptom of breast tumors. Breast lumps are also seen in breast hyperplasia, breast tuberculosis, etc.

Localized thickening of the breast gland

When touching the breast, it is found that the tissue is slightly thicker than the surrounding area, with unclear boundaries and difficult to measure its exact size. Clinically, it is generally diagnosed as "hyperplasia". This situation is mostly physiological in women who have not yet had menopause, especially when there are some changes in the size of the menstrual cycle. However, if the thickened tissue persists for a long time, is unrelated to changes in the menstrual cycle, or becomes increasingly thicker and larger in area, especially when it occurs in postmenopausal women, it must be taken seriously because about 8% of such lesions are cancer.

Breast pain

Severe breast pain accompanied by tenderness is often a manifestation of breast inflammation, which is seen in acute mastitis and breast abscess. For example, local breast pain is often related to the menstrual cycle and is generally more common in simple and cystic hyperplasia of the breast.

Nipple discharge

When women are not breastfeeding, nipple discharge is mostly pathological. The most common cause is intraductal papilloma, followed by cystic hyperplasia of the breast and duct ectasia. About 15% of patients have breast cancer. Special attention should be paid to bloody discharge accompanied by breast lumps. Some drugs can also cause bilateral nipple discharge, such as estrogen, birth control pills, etc.

Breast skin changes

In most breast diseases, there are no changes in the breast skin. Acute mastitis often causes redness and swelling of the skin. Breast tuberculosis may be accompanied by skin ulcers or fistulas. Breast cancer may cause "orange peel"-like changes in the skin.

Changes in breast contour

A normal breast has a complete arc-shaped outline. Any defects or abnormalities in this arc are very important and are often early manifestations of breast cancer.

Nipple changes

The nipple may be inverted in cases of congenital mammary hypoplasia, which is more common in women with no history of breastfeeding. Nipple inversion is also seen in breast cancer, often unilaterally. If eczema and itching recur around the nipple and do not heal for a long time, you should consider the possibility of Paget's disease, which is a special type of breast cancer.