Women should perform breast self examination steps at their homes to check for changes or any issues with the breast tissue. You should believe that inspecting your breast is essential for maintaining breast health. It is a helpful technique for the early detection of breast cancer and also helps in the early detection of the cause of breast lumps. Let’s see in detail how to examine your breast in this blog.
Why you should do it:
*The self-breast examination helps in finding breast abnormalities.
*Hence to find an abnormality, you must first know about your breast normality.
When you should do it:
*Choose preferably the fifth day after the start of your cycle if you have regular periods to examine your breast
* Choose a day that will be easy for you to remember, such as the first or last day of each month, to examine your breasts if you have irregular periods or if you have reached menopause.
What you should do:
There are numerous contributing factors to breast cancer. So, it’s essential to check your breasts to identify the root cause at an early stage. The breast examination can be done in two ways
Inspection:
- Check your breast shape and skin color (redness, rash, and dimpling) by standing in front of the mirror.
- And also look at the nipple for deviation or indentation.
*Raise your hands above your head and check for changes in the breast and nipple. By pressing your hands on your hip check for changes in the breast and nipple.
Palpation:
Palpation is done while taking a bath or at night before going to sleep, or in the morning just before getting up from bed. If you feel comfortable performing self-breast examination steps while lying down, then you can do it. The examination steps are as follows
*You should examine the left breast with your right hand and vice-versa.
- Place a soft pillow under the right shoulder and keep your arm above the head to check your right breast. Gently with the back side of the left middle three fingers touch all over the breast and feel for changes. While touching your breast don’t use the fingertips use only the back of your middle three fingers.
*You should check up to the collarbone, and the armpit area
*Lastly, check the areola portion and look for any discharge from the nipple.
How to feel the abnormalities in the breast:
You have to give three types of pressure on your breast to feel the changes
*Firstly, give gentle pressure and check for changes in the breast skin.
*Then, apply medium pressure on your breast and look for any breast lumps.
*And finally, give a firm pressure and check on abnormalities in deeper tissue.
*All areas of the breast can be examined by giving a circular massage to your breast.
To Conclude:
This examination takes only a few minutes hence make it a habit of following breast self examination steps regularly every month. Moreover, women who are above 20 can perform a breast examination regularly. In some high-risk category, like a family history of breast cancer, you must consult your gynecologist and get their suggestions on mammography and other tests. With breast self examination, check your breasts regularly and get rid of your breast issues at an early stage.
