Breast Cancer Awareness

Breast cancer is one of the deadliest and most physically/emotionally draining diseases affecting women around the world. According to a recent study conducted by global cancer statistics 2020, it is the most diagnosed cancer in women worldwide. The same study reported breast cancer as being the number one cause of mortality amongst the cancer variants reported, underlining how serious the disease is to the female segment of the global population.

Breast cancer stated simply is the unusual rapid growth of cells in the fibrous and fatty tissue of the female breast. These cells develop into cancerous tumours, which if left untreated could lead to deformity of the breast and most if not all times death. Medical professionals are still researching what causes women and sometimes men to develop breast cancer with no general agreed reason reported yet. It was however, noted that those with a family history of cancer or presence of certain genetic traits predisposed them to later developing tumours in their breasts.

A lot of treatments and therapies have been deployed over the years to treat and eliminate the cancerous cells. Chemotherapy, hormonal therapy, and surgery are a few of the methods that have been used depending on the stage and severity of the cancer. The results of these different therapies vary but one thing that is usually agreed upon by medical experts is that early detection of breast cancer was key to survival of majority of patients.

One of the most important tools of early detection is the self-breast examination. This simple, cost-effective examination has been proven to potential save lives. So how do you do this self-examination?

1. First you stand naked in front of your mirror with your shoulders raised and arms at your side. Observe your breasts in the mirror and check for signs of visible distortion or swelling, rash/redness, bulging of the skin, inverted nipple etc.
2. The next thing is to repeat these observations with your arms raised. Be sure to check for unusual discharges from your nipple that are watery, milky, or even bloody especially if you are not breast feeding or lactating.
3. Next step is for you to lie on your back on a comfortable bed or surface and then use your hand to feel each breast, right hand to left breast, left hand to right breast. Using a circular motion use each hand to thoroughly check every area of your breast top-down even to the collar bone to detect the presence of unusual growths or lumps. You can do this sitting or standing up as well especially during your bath time so you can become acquainted with how your breasts should ordinarily feel, which should help you quickly detect if something out of the ordinary pops out.
4. Don’t hesitate to quickly notify your doctor if you detect a lump in your breast. Be sure to stay calm because some-times the lump could turn out to be benign or non-cancerous. It’s imperative to immediately check out any suspected growth or lump to know if you would require treatment, because early detection and therapy has been shown to significantly boost the chances of a patient surviving the disease.

In conclusion, it’s important for everyone woman young or old to learn these self-examination techniques by heart. This will help ensure you can continue to remain healthy and enjoy a fulfilling work and family life.

References:  

1. American Cancer Society Journal
2. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention
3. Cancer.Net
4. Breastcancer.org