Breast Self Examination

Breast Self Examination

Examine up to the collarbone, out to armpit, in to middle of chest, and down to bottom of rib cage breast area going down until you feel only ribs and up to the neck or collar bone (clavicle). There is some evidence to suggest that the up-and-down pattern (sometimes called the vertical pattern) is the most effective pattern for covering the entire breast without missing any breast tissue.

Repeat the exam on your left breast, putting your left arm behind your head and using the finger pads of your right hand to do the exam.

Breast Self Examination Photo Gallery



While standing in front of a mirror with your hands pressing firmly down on your hips, look at your breasts for any changes of size, shape, contour, or dimpling, or redness or scaliness of the nipple or breast skin. (The pressing down on the hips position contracts the chest wall muscles and enhances any breast changes.)

Examine each underarm while sitting up or standing and with your arm only slightly raised so you can easily feel in this area. Raising your arm straight up tightens the tissue in this area and makes it harder to examine.

This procedure for doing BSE is different from previous recommendations. These changes represent an extensive review of the medical literature and input from an expert advisory group. There is evidence that this position (lying down), the area felt, pattern of coverage of the breast, and use of different amounts of pressure increase a woman’s ability to find abnormal areas.

American Cancer Society’s website www.cancer.org, 2013. Copyright © 2013 American Cancer Society, Inc. Reprinted with permission.

If the tumor is malignant, the prostate is usually removed surgically. However, a small, slow-growing tumor in an older man may be treated with watchful waiting, because he is more likely to die from another cause than from the cancer. A less-invasive treatment involves radiation of the tumor by surgically implanting radioactive seeds in the prostate gland.

Radiation from the seeds destroys the tumor and much of the normal prostate tissue but leaves surrounding tissue relatively untouched. Alternative or additional treatments include external radiation, hormones that shrink tumors, cryotherapy, and chemotherapy. The five-year survival rate for prostate cancer is now nearly 100%.

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