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Because breast cancer is easier to treat when caught early, many doctors urge women to perform a monthly breast self-exam to feel for a lump. However, most lumps are not cancerous.
How Lumps Feel
Some lumps feel hard and solid. Cysts, or fluid-filled sacs, may feel squishy, like grapes. Another type of lump, a fibroadenoma, can be rubbery and move easily inside the breast tissue.
Treatments
Sacs may be drained. Doctors often biopsy other types of lumps to remove a small amount of tissue for testing.
Self-Examination
To check your breast, lie on your back and put one hand behind your head. With the fingers of the other hand, press the slightly upraised breast in a pattern, being careful not skip any areas. Then repeat on the other breast.
Other Warning Signs
Squeeze the nipple and check for discharge. Other danger signs include an unexplained change in the size or shape of the breast, thickening or puckering of the skin, a rash or sore on the nipple, and swelling, redness or darkening.
Controversy
Two large trials involving more than 388,000 women found no beneficial effect--no decrease in mortality- among those who perform breast self-exams despite doubling the likelihood of a biopsy. These trials were cited by the Cochrane Library, an independent science review organization.
Source:
National Institutes of Health: Breast Self-Exam
National Institutes of Health: Breast Lump
The Cochrane Library: Regular Self-Examination
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