For medical advice consult your doctor.
Often. Give yourself a breast self-exam once a month. Look for any changes in breast tissue, such as changes in size, feeling a palpable lump, dimpling or puckering of the breast, inversion of the nipple, redness or scaliness of the breast skin, redness or scaliness of the nipple/areola area, or discharge of secretions from the nipple.
If you discover a persistent lump in your breast or any changes, it is very important that you see a physician immediately. Though 8 out of 10 lumps are benign, all require evaluation to confirm that they are not cancerous.
Women should perform their breast self exam 7-10 days after their menstrual period starts which is also when their breasts are the least tender and lumpy. If they are no longer menstruating, then she should select the same day of the month (first of the month for example) and mark it on the calendar to remind herself when to perform this self exam. What to look for is a change from last month’s exam to this month’s exam. It is not unusual to have lumpy or bumpy breasts.
All women should know the geography of their own breasts. If having trouble remembering, draw a diagram of where the lumps, bumps, grooves, and other findings are felt so that this can be used as a reminder from month to month. There is no added value in doing breast self exams more often than monthly. Also the findings may be different as well, in relationship to where a woman is in her menstrual cycle.
National Breast cancer Foundation, Inc.
Feel Your Cups - 4 Simple Steps of a Breast Self Examination
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Yes, smoking is a confirmed risk factor for developing many types of cancer, including breast cancer. Additionally, second hand smoke is also a risk factor for cancer. So if you are a smoker, help yourself in a significant way and join a smoking cessation program to help you stop. The day you stop smoking the healing can begin and each week in which you are smoke-free, you give yourself increasing advantages for a healthier life. Smoking also directly contributes to heart and other lung diseases, too.
Although women who have a family history of breast cancer are in a higher risk group, most women who have breast cancer have no family history. Statistically only 5-10% of individuals diagnosed with breast cancer have a family history of this disease.
However, when there is a family history of breast cancer, genetic testing and counseling may be recommended to determine if you and your family have a breast cancer gene mutation.
Add Women who began their menstrual cycles before age 12, or have no biological children, or had their first child at 30 or older, or began menopause after 55 are at a higher risk. This means that research has proven that the number of menstrual cycles a woman has over time influences risk.
For women with several of these factors, their risk is higher than for those with just one of these risk factors. answer to this item.
The lifetime risk of having breast cancer is 11% among women of Asian/Pacific Islander descent, compared to 12% for Black women and 13% for white women.
Even though the rates of breast cancer among Asian women are slightly lower than those of other races, the incidence of breast cancer is on the rise. Between 1999 and 2018, breast cancer rates in Asian women increased 1.4% per year. The ethnicities with the greatest risk were Filipina, South Asian, Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese.
The gap in breast cancer incidence and outcome among Black women is complex and multifactorial. Social, economic, geographic, and lifestyle factors may partially account for disparities. Black women are statistically more likely to have diabetes, heart disease, and obesity, and are less likely to breastfeed after childbirth—all of which are risk factors for breast cancer. They are more likely than white women to have inadequate health insurance or access to health care facilities, which may affect screening, follow-up care, and completion of therapy.
Through continued research, it’s clear that biology also plays a role. Black women are disproportionately affected by more aggressive subtypes, such as triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) and inflammatory breast cancer, and they are more likely to be diagnosed at younger ages and at more advanced stages of the disease.
Moreover, results from two large clinical trials—TAILORx and RxPONDER, supported in part by BCRF—have revealed distinct differences in recurrence and outcomes in Black women compared to white women. BCRF investigator and study lead Dr. Joseph Sparano reported on the TAILORx trial, which showed that while the number of late recurrences exceeded early recurrence rates in all participants, disparities between Black women and white women were observed in early recurrences but not in late recurrences. Looking at the connection between race and clinical outcomes, RxPONDER investigators found that despite having similar recurrence scores, Black women with HRpositive/HER2-negative, lymph node-positive breast cancer had worse outcomes compared to Asian, Hispanic, and non-Hispanic white women. Other studies have examined this disparity and indicate that breast tumors in Black women respond differently to endocrine therapy and may more frequently become resistant to therapy.
Hispanics and Latin Americans are less likely to receive screening for BRCA mutations compared to other populations worldwide. Studies thus far, however, find that women in many regions of Latin America have higher BRCA mutation incidence with specific mutations frequently seen in the population, as well as differences in how their breast cancer behaves.
Breast Cancer Research Foundation
What Hispanic Women & Latinas Need To Know About Breast Cancer
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