Breast Self Exam - Screening For Cancer: Breast Cancer

Content provided by the Faculty of the Harvard Medical School

Breast self-exam

Experts no longer formally recommend that women routinely perform a self breast exam every month. But it should not be discouraged either, since many women first bring attention to a breast abnormality that they themselves detected. Checking your own breasts every month can be useful. You become more familiar with how your own breasts look and feel to the touch. Should a change arise, you may become aware of it sooner than if you weren't checking monthly.

If you do want to perform self breast exams, check your breasts on the same day every month, preferably seven days after your period begins. This is when the hormones from the ovaries are at their lowest levels and the breasts are least engorged. This is the best time to feel any irregularity that may be present.

Women who have gone through menopause should examine their breasts on the same day each month, such as on the first day of the month.

To perform a breast self-exam, begin by looking at your breasts in a mirror, first with your arms at your sides, then with your hands on your waist and bending forward slightly, and finally with your arms raised over your head. Look for asymmetries of the breast (one breast being larger than the other), dimpling of the skin, redness of the skin, new retraction of a nipple, evidence of nipple discharge or a lump in the armpit area. Discovery of any of these abnormalities demands prompt attention by a physician.

Then, either lying down or standing in the shower, examine your breasts for any bumps, lumps, or thickening. Place one arm behind your head and, with your opposite hand holding fingers flat, examine all areas of the breast. You can either proceed in a circular, organized fashion or methodically move up and down each breast, making sure no part is overlooked. First press lightly, then a bit more firmly and then very firmly in each area (the three-layer cake technique). You should then drop the arm, place the opposite arm behind your head, and examine your other breast in the same way.

Pay particular attention to the areas between the breasts (over the breastbone) and under the arms. Also, because some cancers occur in the nipple/areola area, feel this area carefully.

However, you shouldn't rely on self breast exam as the only way to screen for breast cancer. By the time you can feel a lump, it's probably half an inch or larger. Mammography, a type of x-ray examination of the breast, can detect cancers of smaller sizes, even those that cannot be felt or palpated by you or your physician.

Last updated:	April 23, 2007