How to Self-Examine Your Breasts?

Breast cancer is the most common form of carcinoma affecting women around the world. Since breast cancer is a severe condition, timely diagnosis and treatment are important to ensure quick recovery. This is what makes breast self-exam important. Read on to understand how to do a breast self-exam for early detection of breast carcinoma.

What is a breast self-exam??

A breast self-exam is inspecting the breasts on your own to detect changes. It involves examining both breasts for lumps and changes such as swelling, dimpling or inward pulling of the nipple, and unusual discharge from the nipple. A breast self-exam can also help you detect any change in size and shape of the breast, which may be a sign of breast cancer.

Importance of self-examination

Breast cancer self-exams are considered important for timely detection of breast cancer. If you observe any change in your breast during self-examination, talk to your doctor and opt for a mammogram to detect abnormalities.

Frequency of breast cancer self-exam

Experts recommended self-examining the breasts for cancer at least once a month. There have been instances when finding a breast lump during self-examination helped with the timely diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer.

How to do a breast self-exam?

The following are some simple ways to do breast self-examination at home.

1. Visual breast self-examination in front of the mirror

Stand in front of the mirror without wearing any garment on the top and keep your arms by your sides. Now, look for the following changes in your breasts —

• Changes in size and shape of the breasts

• Swelling near the breasts

• Dimpling or inward pulling of the nipples

Next, raise both your arms above your head and press the palms together. Check your breasts again for any visible changes.

Lastly, press your hands down on your hips and look for the changes again.

2. Manual breast self-examination while standing

Stand straight and use pads of middle three fingers to press every part of the breast. You must examine both breasts the same way. Use different levels of pressure on different parts of the breasts to feel the breast tissue. This may take some time, so keep patience and do not rush the process.

3. Manual breast self-examination while lying down

Lie down on a bed or any flat surface comfortably. When you lie down, the breast tissues spread out, and this makes it easier to feel the lumps and other changes. Here’s how you can self-examine while lying down —

• Keep a pillow under the right shoulder and take your right arm behind the head.

• Use three fingers of the left hand to examine right breast and armpit, as explained in the previous point.

• Once you are done with right breast, keep the pillow under left shoulder and left arm behind the head. Now, examine the left breast and armpit in same way.

When you are doing breast self-examination, check the nipples, areola, collarbone and armpits as well for signs of breast cancer.