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If you feel bumps and lumps when you touch your breasts, don’t panic right away. These are probably harmless changes that many women experience.
More than 80 percent of the changes found in the breast during self-examination are benign. However, they should not be taken lightly. When something bothers you, ask your doctor to clarify your doubts.
To know if there are any changes in your breasts, you need to systematically examine them yourself. Most doctors consider breast self-examination to be the cornerstone of breast cancer prevention. There is no exaggeration in this. The diameter of the lump found in women who have never examined their breasts is 40 mm, and in women who have examined themselves once a month – 12 mm. And yet it is known that the smaller the nodule, the greater the chance of a complete cure. For the study to be reliable, it must be learned. Practicing and getting to know your own breasts allows you to notice the smallest changes in shape, appearance and structure. It is best to get tested once a month, between the sixth and ninth day of the cycle. It is good when it will always be the same day, e.g. the seventh. However, this does not exempt from regular visits to the gynecologist and asking for a palpation, ultrasound and mammography.
What standard
The consistency of the breasts should be homogeneous, similar to the buttock muscle. The nipple can be cylindrical, conical, like a barrel or a funnel. The upper surface of the nipple can be smooth, wrinkled, with tiny inverted C or H-shaped lines. Sometimes, holes in the glandular ducts are visible. The nipples, like the breasts, tend to be directed outwards, centered or asymmetrical. Most women have asymmetrical breasts and a few percent clearly different. This condition is not considered a health or cosmetic defect.
A retracted nipple, sometimes from puberty (sometimes only in one breast), does not have to be a symptom of the disease. A protruding nipple that gets pulled in at adulthood may be a signal of breast cancer and should be the reason for an immediate visit to the doctor.
Most of the lumps we feel under our fingers are related to the normal development of the breasts and changes that they undergo throughout a woman’s life, i.e. during puberty, full sexual activity, pregnancy, feeding a baby and slow menopause. Each of these stages of life has different physiological changes in the breasts. The line between benign lumps or nodules and those that can develop into cancer is sometimes very delicate. Therefore, breast examination must become our habit.
Mastopathia
If you feel numerous lumps, lumps, and lumps when examining your breasts, you probably have mastopathic breasts. The cause of the ailments is usually a hormonal imbalance, most often too low level of progesterone in relation to estrogens. If this situation continues for many months, the breast tissue grows and these types of changes arise. They can cover a part, all or both of the breasts. Most often it affects women between 30 and 40 years of age. These changes gradually wear off after the menopause. However, they should always be examined by a specialist. He usually orders an ultrasound and blood hormone levels, sometimes a mammogram. When a cancer is ruled out, appropriate treatment is selected to restore the hormonal balance in the body. Instead of oral preparations, a gel with progesterone, which is rubbed into the breast, can be used. Young women are sometimes satisfied with the drug Mastodynon N, which does not contain hormones, but significantly reduces breast pain. Temporary relief is provided by applying moist compresses to sore breasts.
Diet also plays an important role in the treatment of mastoplastic changes. The more vegetables, fruits and legumes, the more ailments. Coffee and animal fats, on the other hand, can make unpleasant symptoms worse.
After treatment and introduction of a proper diet, painful changes go away, but mastopathy has a tendency to recur. Therefore, if it is found, check-ups should be made at least once a year. This is important because cysts can form in the overgrown breast tissue.
Cysts, also known as cysts, most often concern women between the ages of 30 and 50. They are less common in young women or those who have stopped hormonal activity of the ovaries. Whether the cyst is below the surface of the skin or deeper, it will always feel like a hard lump that can vary in size. Cysts are similar to fluid-filled vesicles. They are smooth to the touch and you can slide them freely between your fingers. If a lump in the breast comes on suddenly, within a few days, or gets bigger quickly, it is not usually a cancer.
To diagnose a cyst, the doctor examines the breast with his fingers and then orders an ultrasound or mammogram. The next step in the diagnosis is to do a fine needle biopsy to get more information about the nodule. In most cases, it is both diagnostic and therapeutic. A large cyst often causes pain that radiates to the armpit. Puncture it and draw the liquid with a syringe brings immediate relief. The lump gets smaller and then fades away.
Cyst fluid rarely contains cancer cells, but nodules like to renew themselves. This does not increase the risk of developing malignant breast cancer, but the entire diagnostic and treatment cycle should be repeated each time.
The fibroadenomas are smooth to the touch, hard, clearly separated and shifting in relation to the surrounding tissue. Several such lumps may develop in one breast. They come in different sizes: from the size of a pea to a small lemon. They can develop anywhere on the breast, but are most common near the nipple. They usually appear in young women before the age of 30, and sometimes also in teenagers. They arise as a result of excessive development of glandular and fibrous tissue within the breast lobe. They are common in women taking oral contraception and disappear when it is stopped.
Due to their characteristic features, they can be recognized when examining with the fingers. However, an ultrasound scan is performed to be absolutely sure. If the result is inconclusive, a biopsy is made and the collected tissues are examined under a microscope for the presence of neoplastic cells.
Women under 25 years of age rarely develop cancer due to fibroadenomas and are therefore allowed to be monitored. But at the request of the woman, they can also be removed. The surgeon then makes a small incision. It runs along the natural lines of the skin’s stress or around the so-called areola (darker area around the nipple), thanks to which the scar after the procedure is invisible. Removal of a very large fibroadenoma may lead to breast deformation, but this can be remedied by moving the breast tissue or making an incision in the fold under the breast and implanting a suitable implant. If this type of nodule is present in middle-aged and older women, they should be removed and examined under a microscope to see if they contain cancerous cells. Older women have a much higher risk of developing a malignant tumor.
Papillomas difficult to detect during breast self-examination. When pressure is applied to the breast or nipple, it comes out with serous or milky discharge. Most often it affects premenopausal women and cigarette smokers. The discharge may be stained with blood when a pedunculated papilloma (a lump on a leg) obstructs the milk duct.
Papillomas form in the milk ducts and this is not related to breastfeeding. It is an affliction of 40- and 50-year-old women. They arise when there is a significant expansion of the end sections of the milk ducts and the accumulation of secretions there. If it cannot come out because the mouth is blocked with thickened discharge, inflammation develops or a painful abscess develops. Clogging of the milk duct opening always requires treatment.
Inflammation is eliminated with antibiotics, although this is usually not an easy task for a doctor. Breast infections are often resistant to treatment with antibiotics.
However, it should be remembered that in some cases (3% of women), bloody discharge from the breast is the first symptom of cancer.
These types of lumps can be found by mammography or biopsy. All papillomas are surgically treated.
Lumps on the areola of the breast – The whitish, raised lumps, like tiny lumps in the areola, should not worry women. These are naturally occurring Montgomery glands, i.e. transformed sweat glands that can arrange themselves in a circular pattern over the entire surface of the areola or irregularly, in smaller or larger clusters.
See also: How does breast density relate to cancer development?