Are breasts healthy

There is no single standard answer to determine whether the breasts are healthy. It must be comprehensively judged from three dimensions: daily body sensation, imaging examination, and clinician palpation. Most of the time, if there is no persistent swelling and pain during non-menstrual periods, no fixed hard lumps can be touched, and there is no inexplicable bloody/yellow-brown discharge from the nipple, it is basically in a healthy state and there is no need to be overly anxious.

I treated a 24-year-old girl last year. Her eyes were swollen from crying when she came in. She said she felt two hard lumps in her breasts while taking a shower. She spent a night browsing the Internet and thought she had breast cancer. However, when she did an ultrasound, nothing happened. She just had typical glandular edema before menstruation. Many people don’t know that during self-examination, if you pinch your breasts with your fingers to find hard lumps, it is easy to mistake normal breast tissue for foreign bodies. If you compare the breast tissue to a bunch of grapes hanging on the chest, it is easy to crush the whole bunch of grapes into hard lumps when you pinch them. The correct technique should be to use the fingertips flat against the skin and press in circles along the entire breast. Only abnormalities found can be of reference value.

Of course, it doesn’t mean that you can completely relax your vigilance when your physical sensation is fine. There was a 42-year-old patient who did not have a breast examination during the annual physical examination at the workplace and did not feel any lumps. Last year, a breast ultrasound was specially performed to detect early-stage ductal cancer less than 1cm. Because it was discovered early, the recovery after breast-conserving surgery was particularly good. Now he has returned to work normally. Therefore, for high-risk groups with a family history of breast cancer, menarche earlier than 12 years old, and menopause later than 55 years old, even if they do not have any discomfort, it is best to do a special breast screening once a year, and do not rely solely on physical sensation.

As for the question that everyone is most concerned about, "Will breast hyperplasia become cancerous?", there are now different opinions in the industry. Some scholars believe that pathological hyperplasia caused by long-term disordered work and rest and emotional depression has a very low probability of becoming cancerous. However, most clinicians believe that ordinary physiological hyperplasia has a very low probability of becoming cancerous. Hyperplasia - the kind of glands that feel swelling and pain that fluctuates with the menstrual period, has nothing to do with cancer. There is no need to take various health care products to treat it. Instead, taking estrogen-containing supplements such as royal jelly and snow clams will really increase the risk of breast lesions.

If you are really not sure whether your breasts are healthy or not, go to a regular hospital and get a mammography appointment. A breast ultrasound costs tens of dollars and the results will be available in half an hour. It is much more reliable than scaring yourself by reading online articles for a long time. If you are over 40 years old, you can basically check the risks clearly with a mammogram.