Breast cancer is a very common female disease, which every year takes more and more lives. In the risk zone are women with poor heredity (the presence of cancer in close relatives), elderly women, as well as those who gave birth to the first child after 30 years of age or not have children and never breast-fed.
Unfortunately, breast cancer is often found already in the advanced stages, when it is practically impossible to do anything. This is due to the negligent attitude of women to their health, when they do not do self-examination and do not consult a doctor when the first suspicions appear.
The first signs of breast cancer
The first signs of breast cancer , as a rule, are already quite obvious, although they do not give the woman any special physical discomfort and anxiety. A woman does not worry - and this is the main cunning of breast cancer.
The first sign is usually the appearance of a small seal in one of the mammary glands. It is visually different from the tissues that surround the mammary gland. And in about 85% of cases, women themselves discover a disease.
Early external signs of breast cancer
If you have the signs listed below, it may mean that you have a tumor, but it is not always malignant. It can be any other breast disease, but if you find at least one symptom, you need to immediately seek medical advice.
So, the signs of a breast tumor:
- changes in the form of mammary glands;
- the presence of a tumor-like formation in the chest, which is significantly different from the rest of the tissues;
- swelling of the breast;
- periodic discharge from the nipple ;
- stretching the nipple and other changes in its shape;
- changes in the skin of the breast - condensation, the appearance of "citrus crust";
- redness of the skin on the chest.
Whatever the first signs of breast cancer, the tumor at an early stage is small, shifts to the sides, being mobile. In the future, it already becomes immobile, as it begins to grow, expanding into the skin or pectoral muscle.
Therefore, it is important not to start the disease, to start treatment at the stage, while the tumor is still mobile. If a woman finds that her breasts have ceased to be symmetrical, the nipple has changed shape and stretched, and the skin has become different, you need to go to the doctor right away - maybe at this stage the disease can still be overcome.
Recommendations for breast self-examination
Every woman who cares about her health and wants to live a long and happy life is simply obliged to engage in breast self-examination at least several times a year. What is it?
After the end of menstruation, a woman should examine her breasts. The direction of the feeling is clockwise from the outside to the inside. Before the examination it is necessary to take the position lying on its side and to throw the arm behind the head. When examining the left breast, go to the right side and vice versa.
If during the examination you have groped at least the slightest compaction, uncharacteristic formations, discharge from the nipple, swelling and wrinkling of the skin, this should alert you and cause an urgent treatment in the clinic.
It is possible to examine and axillary lymphonoduses - if they are enlarged - it is even more cause for concern. If the tumor is palpable when it is pressed against the chest, if the tumor trembles when it is taped in its middle, the skin is stretched over the tumor, with the two fingers gripping the breast, transverse folding instead of longitudinal is formed - this means that the tumor is already large.