Now that breast self-examination has fallen out of favor, how can women reduce their risk of breast cancer?

For years, doctors have recommended that women perform monthly self-examinations to check for potentially cancerous breast lumps.

Research though suggests that breast self-exams have no meaningful effect on breast cancer survival rates and on groups such as the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care actively discourage women from performing regular breast self-examinations as this may lead to unnecessary biopsies.

“We know that there is no data to show that when it comes to breast cancer, it changes your outcome by that,” said Dr. Mojola Omole, president of the Black Physicians Association of Ontario and a surgical oncologist at Scarborough Health Network. of The dose host Dr. Brian Goldman.

Nevertheless, Omole says that in addition to understanding your risk and going for regular mammography as soon as it becomes available in your area, self-exams are still useful. That’s because they give women important information about their bodies by making them aware of what normal feels and looks like.

“People check to see if their blood pressure is normal,” she said. “You should also check to see if your breast is normal.”

Breast cancer is the second most common cancer in Canadaand approximately one in eight women are expected to be diagnosed during their lifetime.

What is a breast self-examination?

The shift in thinking about breast self-examinations is part of a growing movement in medicine toward the idea of ​​breast self-examination breast self-consciousness to look at changes over time or throughout the month.

A breast self-exam is a physical process where you touch and feel your breasts to check for things like lumps, skin deformities, discoloration, or swelling.

“It’s if you check the breast tissue, but also if you look under the armpit,” says Omole, because breast cancer can also spread under the armpit.

A breast self-examination can be done by standing in front of the mirror with one hand above the head and the other hand on the chest on the side of the raised arm.

Pretend the breast is a clock, start the exam at noon and slowly rotate inward to check for any abnormalities.

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“You should also check for any skin changes,” Omole said, including signs of redness, changes in skin color and unusual dimpling of the skin.

“If you’re someone with larger breasts…that hang a little more, make sure you lift underneath to check it there.”

If you are menstruating, Omole says to do a self-exam after your period. Otherwise, she recommends choosing a date and taking a self-exam on that same date each month.

She also warns that not every lump means cancer.

“A lot of people have cysts and fibroadenomas and just other benign things in their breast,” says Omole, referring to benign fluid sacs and lumps that typically don’t require medical intervention.

If you find any, she recommends seeing a doctor, or going to a walk-in clinic or the emergency department of a hospital with a breast cancer center.

Mammograms are part of early detection

Although the breast self-exam has not been shown to help reduce breast cancer mortality and the exam’s ability to do so Detecting cancer early has been challenged by doctorsOmole says the early detection tool could be useful for certain demographic groups, including younger women around the age of 30 or 40 and racialized women.

“For this population, I think it’s very important because we know that when you get breast cancer at a younger age, you tend to have more aggressive tumors,” she said.

However, mammograms offer a solution more accurate detectionaccording to the Canadian Cancer Society.

Screening mammograms are used to detect breast cancer when there are no other symptoms. Diagnostic mammograms are used after a screening mammogram detects signs of cancer – or if another symptom indicates the presence of breast cancer.

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It’s worth noting that mammograms can incorrectly identify breast cancer, with one study showing that around half of all women will be affected at least one false positive result during a ten-year period of annual screening.

The age at which women in Canada can be screened for breast cancer through annual mammograms varies from province to province.

Ontario recently changed its guidelinesallowing women aged 40 and over to self-refer for a screening mammogram, lowering the age limit from 50.

“Many patients I see [and] I am dealing with a younger population and a racialized population, they discovered breast cancer on their own,” Omole said.

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Data from the USA and the United Kingdom shows that women who are part of the African diaspora, as well as Latin American, Asian and indigenous women, tend to develop breast cancer at younger ages than 50.

However, Omole says anyone with breasts – including cisgender men – can do a self-exam.

“If you have a family history of breast cancer, ovarian cancer and prostate cancer, there may be a gene that increases your risk,” she said.

“So all those people should do a breast self-exam too.”

Know the three B’s

The medical director and surgeon of the Winnipeg Breast Health Center, Dr. Duncan Inglis, for his part, says he doesn’t recommend breast self-exams, but instead talks to patients about how the “Three B’s” can help reduce breast cancer risk:

• Be healthy.
• Look after.
• Be informed.

“We encourage women to maintain a healthy lifestyle and an appropriate weight,” says Inglis.

That includes tracking alcohol consumption guidelinesas well as quitting smoking or at least minimizing it.

“We tell patients to just be aware of what’s normal for them… and then we’re talking about people being educated about what’s involved with specific things, like screening programs that are available for their age and their location. “

Inglis adds that significant progress has been made in the treatment of breast cancer, including improved chemotherapy and hormonal therapy.

“Women do better with breast cancer,” says Inglis.