Scottish Daily Mail

BREAST CHANGES THAT ALL WOMEN SHOULD WATCH FOR

- By RACHEL ELLIS breastcanc­ercare.org.uk

SHOULD women be checking themselves every month for signs of breast cancer — and how should they do it?

Ask most women these two questions and chances are they’d answer ‘yes’ to the first, but offer a confused mix of answers to the second. In fact, even the experts don’t seem to agree on how often or the right approach.

This confusion may help explain the findings from today’s survey, which suggest most women do not examine their breasts every month to check for signs of breast cancer.

Just 43 per cent of women check their breasts at least once a month or more often, and 15 per cent don’t do it at all, according to the Ipsos MORI survey commission­ed by the Mail in associatio­n with LloydsPhar­macy.

Even those who do check regularly aren’t sure they’re doing it right.

A third (34 per cent) of women who regularly self-examine say they’re not confident they’re checking themselves correctly, with women aged 30 to 44 the most likely to be worried they’re doing it wrong (49 per cent of this group expressed concerns).

‘Unfortunat­ely, we know there is still some misunderst­anding about what women should be doing to help look after their breast health,’ says Eluned Hughes, head of public health and informatio­n at Breast Cancer Now.

‘Younger women, in particular, are not as confident about knowing the signs.’

Women were first advised to check themselves regularly over 60 years ago.

Concerned that women were being diagnosed with large, inoperable tumours, Cushman Haagensen, a U.S. breast surgeon, made a short film showing how self-examinatio­n was done. It led to a sea change in what women did.

Since then, there’s been conflictin­g advice on how women should examine their breasts and debate about whether self-examinatio­n is helpful.

Previously, some doctors recommende­d examining the breasts in a spiral, starting at the nipple and working in a circular fashion outwards, while others advised feeling each breast while lying down or sitting up and dividing the breast into four quadrants, focusing on one area at a time.

Other techniques included feeling up and down the breasts in vertical strips.

There has also been different advice about the timing of checks, from weekly to once a month to before and after each period.

A number of studies have now discredite­d these approaches. A Cochrane review involving 388,000 women from Russia and Shanghai, from 2003, found no significan­t difference in the number of breast cancer deaths among women who checked or lumps compared with those who didn’t.

However almost twice as many biopsies were performed in the self-examinatio­n group which turned out to be benign.

‘There’s no evidence regular breast self-examinatio­n reduces the chance of dying from breast cancer or diagnosing it at an earlier stage,’ says Kefah Mokbel, a professor of breast cancer surgery at the London Breast Institute. ‘There is evidence, however, that it increases anxiety and the chance of attending a breast clinic and the need for investigat­ions, including negative breast biopsies. I advise my patients not to examine themselves for lumps.’

Today the emphasis is not on examinatio­n, but awareness, and knowing what’s normal for you. The consensus is to check once every few weeks.

‘I would advise women to check their breasts from their 20s onwards,’ says Eluned Hughes. ‘But it’s particular­ly important for women from the ages of 45 to 50, as four out of five breast cancers occur in women over 50.

‘It’s also important for women over 70, as they no longer get automatic invites for breast screening.’

Check under your armpits, right up to your collarbone, as this is all breast tissue. See your GP if you spot any changes.

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