Breast Cancer Awareness Month: Steps To Do Self Examination

Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer among women across the world.

In 2020, an estimated 2,261,419 new breast cancer cases were diagnosed in women across the world, according to World Health Organisation data. Out of them, 685,000 people died from the disease.

We spoke with Dr Mandeep Singh Malhotra, Surgical Oncologist, at CK Birla Hospital, Delhi, to learn more about the disease.

Dr Malhotra says that the solution to this problem lies with early detection. If the patient is able to detect the disease in stage one, the survival rate is as high as 80-90%. If it is stage three, the survival rate drops down to 50% and in stage four, the disease cannot be cured.

For early detection, the most common method is self-breast examination.

Self-Breast Examination

A regular self-breast examination enables women to detect breast cancer themselves at stage one. At this stage, the lump size is less than or equal to two centimetres.

Steps Of Breast Cancer Self-Examination

There is no hard and fast method of self-examination. Self-examination means women should be conscious of their breasts.

These are the self-examination methods:

1: Inspect

It means to look at your breasts regularly. If you look at your breasts regularly, you'll be able to notice any changes in the breast skin. Look if there is any unusual dimpling, redness, change in nipple position, any discharge through the nipple, etc. If you notice anything like that, it could be an early sign and you should consult a doctor.

2: Palpate

Palpate means to examine the breast by the sense of touch. You can do it in any way, from left to right, right to left, clockwise, anti-clockwise or any other way. Some women might have firm breasts, some may have soft breasts, and some may have lumpy breasts (inherent small lumps). By palpating regularly, you'll know if there is anything unusual or if there are lumps in your breasts. If you notice anything like that, you should bring it to your doctor's notice.

By using these methods, breast cancer can be caught early. When caught early, the survival rate is much higher, which is around 100%.

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