How to check breast health

If you want to do a good breast health check-up, the most practical way is to combine daily home self-examination with regular clinical professional screening. The two complement each other and can cover the majority of breast abnormality screening needs.

Several friends around me who have detected benign breast nodules found them by touch during daily showering. In fact, self-examination does not have as many complicated steps as uploaded online. There is no need to stick to the precise time of 3-7 days after the end of menstruation. Of course, during this time, the hormone levels in the body are stable, and the breast congestion is less. It’s more accurate. It doesn’t matter if you can’t remember it. Just spend 1 minute doing it every time you take a bath. After the water temperature softens the breast skin, put your fingertips against the skin and slowly move in circles from the periphery of the breast to the direction of the nipple. Don’t pinch with your nails, otherwise it will be easy to scare yourself by treating normal breast glands as hard lumps. After touching, you can also raise your arms or put your hands on your hips in front of the mirror to see if the outline of the breasts on both sides is symmetrical, if there is any local skin that is sunken like a dimple, or if the nipples are inexplicably leaking light yellow or bloody fluid. These are all signs that you need to seek medical treatment in time. Of course, some studies now believe that self-examination by the general population will not reduce the overall mortality of breast cancer. Instead, they may frequently go to the hospital for unnecessary examinations due to excessive anxiety. Therefore, there is no need to regard self-examination as a KPI that must be completed. If you are prone to anxiety and cannot remember to do it, it does not matter. Just do the breast examination items on time and do not put too much pressure on yourself.

Of course, don’t think that everything will be fine if you don’t feel anything during self-examination. Many early breast lesions, such as small nodules and tiny calcifications that have not yet grown up, are deep in location or too small in size and cannot be touched at all. At this time, you have to rely on professional examination. In fact, many people here have misunderstandings. They either think that young people do not need to take the test, or they ask for the most expensive test at the beginning. Many people are afraid of the pain of the mammography target and the radiation. In fact, the current general recommendation in the industry is that women under 40 years old, with no family history of breast cancer, and no previous high-risk factors such as atypical breast hyperplasia, should have a breast color Doppler ultrasound once a year. Color Doppler ultrasound does not radiate, and it is also easy to identify dense breasts that are common in young women. Mammography is more suitable for people over 40 years old or with high-risk factors. When used in conjunction with color ultrasound, the missed diagnosis rate will be much lower. There is no need to blindly pursue higher-end examinations, and there is no need to have unnecessary panic about mammography. Its radiation dose is very low, and there will be no health problems if done once a year.

A while ago, a fan came to me to complain. She went to a beauty salon for a body massage. The technician said she had several breast nodules and that she needed to apply for tens of thousands of dollars for a breast cancer treatment card. She was so frightened that she went to the hospital overnight to register. As a result, the color ultrasound showed normal breast glands. There are no nodules at all. The technicians in the beauty salon have not received systematic medical training at all. They often regard normal tissue as abnormal and deceive people. If there is really a problem, you still have to go to the breast department or general surgery of a regular hospital for examination. Don't trust the judgment of non-medical institutions.

By the way, there is no need to be scared to sleep when you touch a hard lump. Clinically, more than 80% of breast lumps are benign. Whether they are hyperplasia, fibroids or cysts, most of them do not require special treatment. Regular follow-up is enough. If there are problems, they will be detected and dealt with early. There is nothing to be afraid of.