Feeling a lump in the skin of the breast is scary, but before you jump down the rabbit hole of what this could mean, there are a few important symptoms and risk factors to recognize first.
Breast Cancer
“People generally get a combination of local treatments that directly affect the breast such as surgery and radiation, as well as systemic therapy, or medical treatments that affect the whole body.”
"I want as many days and as many hockey games as I can get.”
If cancer runs in a family, there may be an inherited factor that increases the risk of younger generations in that family developing cancer.
"I told Dr. Ozturk that she had given me one of the best birthday gifts ever: a totally new self-image,” Sheila says. “It’s been a long time since I’ve felt this good about my body.”
While it’s understandable for a woman to be concerned that she has breast cancer after feeling pain in that area, it’s unlikely that pain is an indicator of the condition.
There is confusion regarding baseline mammograms and what some women have been told by their primary care doctors.
“I was feeling fine when I was diagnosed with breast cancer. Had I not gotten my annual mammogram, the breast cancer could have possibly spread. Early detection is key. Invest in yourself and in your health,” Sharon says.
A guide to everything you need to know about screening mammograms.
The rate of breast cancer in Black and Hispanic/Latinx women continues to be of concern to doctors, as these groups have higher death rates from breast cancer than non-Hispanic white women.
"Most lumps women feel are not cancer but it is important to have it evaluated with mammography and/or ultrasound because you cannot tell by how it feels whether it is cancer,” says Dr. Ermelinda Bonaccio.
One of the advantages is that it can result in less pain during recovery. “Pain from the prepectoral implant procedure may be less painful, or may be equivalent to the pain from a subpectoral implant,” Dr. Moon said.