Breast Self Examination
Examining your breast yourself is called breast self examination (BSE). A BSE can help women detect cysts or other benign breast problems between checkups. It can also help some women detect breast cancer.
It is easy to perform a BSE and it only takes a few minutes. Although it might seem strange or inconvenient at first, BSE is a skill you can use throughout your life to help ensure a good health.
It is a good idea to examine your breasts once a month and it makes sense to choose the same time each month because breasts usually change with menstrual cycles. The best time to do BSE is about a week after your periods start.
There are two parts of BSE:
1. How do your breasts look?2. How do your breasts feel?
The looking part is easy. Before you put on a bra, stand or sit in front of a mirror with your arms relaxed at your sides. Make sure you are in a place with good lighting. Look at your breasts carefully. Look for any unusual changes in your nipples. Then look at your breast from different angles and arm positions- arms sideways, overhead, hands firmly placed on the hip, and bent forwards. Each time watch for dimples or changes in the skin.
The next part is to feel your breasts to see how they feel. Lie down flat on your back, with a pillow or towel under the shoulder. Put the arm of the side examining under your head and palpate your breasts with the opposite hand. For e.g. you are examining your left breast. You should examine this side with your right hand and your left hand should be under your head at this time.
Using the pads of your three middle fingers gently press on your breasts. The first few times you do it, you will have some difficulty understanding the tissues but broadly speaking your breast will feel different at different times during the menstrual cycle.
Your movements must overlap areas of breast in circles the size of a dime. Move up and down, right to left. Palpate all areas of the breast carefully. Remember you are looking for any hard lumps, or a thickening of skin or a soft lump, or any tissue which feels different from normal breast.
If you did not find any abnormality with this method you should proceed to deeper palpation. With the pads of three middle fingers feel the breast tissue this time with deeper pressure. Again follow the same sequence. Palpate the centre and then proceed to the side and come back to midline. Then move up and down up to the collar bone on top and a few cm below the nipple on the bottom.
Following this method you should be able to examine all part of your breasts in detail. If you do find any abnormality, this is the time to examine it in detail. First of try to characterise it. Is a discrete swelling or a diffuse swelling? Does the lump feel hard or soft, is it mobile or attached to overlying skin or underlying chest wall etc. Also look once again for any changes like retraction or dimpling or oedema of skin of breasts. Always finish your BSE by pressing by the sides of nipples to see if there is any discharge from nipples. Women who are lactating should not have any discharge from the breasts, even if it looks like milk.
It is also a good idea to palpate your armpits for any lumps as well.
If you find some abnormality or you feel uncomfortable about something you felt, go to your doctor. He is the best person to diagnose any cancer and early diagnosis could mean the difference between life and death in cancers.
