How to identify breast lumps

Women's breasts are rich in glands and are easily troubled by various breast diseases. In order to detect and treat female breast diseases early, female friends should undergo regular examinations, especially women over 30 years old, who should pay more attention to this examination to avoid delaying the disease. There are two ways to check for breast diseases: self-examination and medical examination. So, how do you determine if there is a lump in the breast? Let’s take a look together below.

1. What diseases can cause breast lumps?

Breast lumps are a common sign of breast disease. Breast lumps may occur in cases of breast hyperplasia, fibroadenoma, breast cysts, intraductal papilloma, and breast duct ectasia.

2. Different manifestations of breast lumps

1. Breast hyperplasia

Multiple nodules of varying sizes and unclear boundaries are often found in both breasts simultaneously or successively, and can be moved. Breast fibroadenomas are mostly solitary, with clear boundaries, neat edges, smooth surfaces, and are movable.

2. Breast cysts

An enlarged lobule that forms when breast tissue ages. The lumps are smooth and movable. Intraductal papilloma is often felt as a round, soft mass under the areola or at the edge of the areola, with a diameter generally ranging from 0.3 to 1 cm, and most cases are accompanied by nipple discharge.

3. Mammary duct dilatation

The lump has irregular edges and an uneven surface. It is mostly located deep in the areola and is usually less than 3 cm in size. Breast tuberculosis usually presents as isolated nodules at the beginning, gradually forming one or several lumps with unclear boundaries and easy adhesion to the skin.

4. Breast cancer

Only a small number of breast lumps are cancerous. Breast cancer lumps are mostly single nodules with irregular edges. Most are hard in texture and often adhere to the skin.

3. How to check for breast lumps

1. Self-examination

Self-examination should be performed one week after menstruation. Lift your left hand to the back of your head, use your right hand to check your left breast, press the breast lightly with your fingertips to feel whether there are any lumps, start checking from the nipple in a circular clockwise direction, gradually moving outward (about three or four circles) until the entire breast is checked, use the same method to check the right breast.

2. Doctor’s palpation

On the day of the examination, it is best to wear open-collared clothes to facilitate the examination. During the examination, whether you are standing or sitting facing the doctor, you should try to relax as much as possible so that the doctor can obtain accurate examination results. Doctors usually use the middle three fingers to touch, starting from the area around the areola and expanding in a spiral clockwise direction until the entire breast tissue is reached.

3. Infrared scanning

Infrared scanning is particularly suitable for screening pregnant and breastfeeding women. This examination mainly utilizes the different infrared absorption rates of normal tissue and diseased tissue to display different grayscale images such as translucent, dark and bright to diagnose breast diseases.

4.B-ultrasound examination

When a breast lump is suspected, an ultrasound examination is necessary. This is a preliminary screening test for breast lumps, which can be used to determine the nature and location of the lump. However, it has poor recognition ability for tumors with a diameter of less than 1 cm.

5. Mammography

The examination is performed by clamping the breast on the support plate of the molybdenum target machine to fix the breast and obtain a clear image, which can detect some tiny tumor buds that cannot be felt by hand. You may feel slight pain during the examination, which is caused by the pressure of the splint on the breast.

6. Nuclear Magnetic Resonance

Breast MRI has higher sensitivity than ultrasound and mammography, and is radiation-free, making it a safe and effective examination method. It can make up for the shortcomings of color Doppler ultrasound and molybdenum target.