Breast Self Examination
Outlines
- Objectives
- Introduction
- Definition
- Statistics on Breast Cancer
- Why Do a Breast Self Exam?
- Steps
Objectives
To clarify the confusion surrounding
breast awareness and breast self-
examination.
To critique the evidence for breast
awareness as a health promotion tool.
Introduction
The Numbers Don’t Lie
•Breast cancer impacts over 240,000 new
patients a year in INDIA alone.
•Approximately every 3 minutes a woman is
diagnosed with breast cancer and
approximately every 12 minutes breast
cancer claims another life.
• 70% of breast cancer cases occur in
women who have no identifiable risk factors.
Definition
A breast self exam is a check-up a woman does at
home to look for changes or problems in the
breast tissue. Many women feel that doing this is
important to their health.
However, experts do not agree about the benefits
of breast self exams in finding breast cancer or
saving lives. Talk to your health care provider
about whether breast self exams are right for you.
Statistics on Breast Cancer
• An estimated 40,600 deaths (40,200 women, 400 men)
from breast cancer are expected next year.
• Breast cancer ranks second among cancer deaths in
women.
• Breast cancer also strikes a small percentage of men.
• An estimated 192,200 new invasive cases of breast
cancer are expected to occur among women in India
this year alone.
• About 1,500 new cases of breast cancer are expected
to be diagnosed in men next year.
Why Do a Breast Self Exam?
When to do a Breast Self-Exam
The best time to do breast self-exam is
right after your period, when breasts are
not tender or swollen. If you do not have
regular periods or sometimes skip a
month, do it on the same day every
month.
There are two basic
steps to conducting a
Breast Self Exam
(BSE): first you look
at your breasts, and
then you touch them.
Visual Examination
During the first part of the BSE, the
visual examination, you are looking
for changes in each breast. So if
your breasts have always been
mushy, that's not a concern unless
this is a new change.
Stand in front of a mirror
and look for the above
changes in your breasts
(from both a frontal and
profile view) in 3 different
positions:
1. With your arms up behind
your head
2. With your arms down at
your sides
3. Bending forward
The changes you are looking for include:
• Size
• Shape
• Bumps/lumps
NOTE: normal lumpiness, like in the
week before and of your menstrual
cycle, will appear as very small and
separate lumps like the texture of an
orange.
• Contour or symmetry (is there a
difference in the level between your
nipples? Do both breasts look
symmetrical?)
Other Changes to Look For…
Sores or scaly skin
Skin discoloration
or dimpling
Discharge or
puckering of the
nipple
Tactile Examination
Begin by looking for the
changes while standing up.
Some women find it useful to
do this part of the BSE in the
shower, since soap or bath
gel will aid in the ease of
feeling your breasts.
For the BSE, you need to pick a
pattern to feel your breasts and
surrounding areas, which
include:
the breast itself
between the breast and underarm
the underarm itself
the area above the breast up to the
collarbone and across to your
shoulder
It is important to check
surrounding areas
because breast cancer
may be found in the
lymph node tissue
around your breast and
underarm.
You use the pads
(where your
fingerprints are)
of your three
middle fingers
on your right
hand pressed
together flat to
check your left
breast, and do
the opposite for
the right breast.
You should press on your breast
with varying degrees of pressure:
light (move the skin without
moving the tissue underneath)
medium (midway into the tissue)
hard (down to the ribs "on the
verge of pain")
Patterns
Spiral (concentric circles): begin with a
large circle around the perimeter of your
breast and make smaller and smaller circles
as you work your way toward the nipple.
Pie shape wedges: pretend your breast is divided
into sections like pieces of a pie, begin in the
nipple area and feel your breast in a small circular
motion within one pie shape section, then move
on to the next wedge starting in the nipple area
again.
When using any of the 3 patterns, you
should always be using a circular rubbing
motion (in dime-sized circles) without
lifting up your fingers.
Once you've performed the tactile
examination while standing up in front of a
mirror, you should do the whole
examination again, this time while lying
down.
Summary
Put your left arm behind your head and use your right
hand to examine your left breast.
Put a small pillow or towel under your left shoulder to
aid you.
Again, use the pads of your 3 fingers of your right hand
to check your left breast in the pattern of your choice
(spiral, pie shape wedges, or up and down).
Be sure to always use the same pattern (it's the best way
to know if there are changes).
