They define your female curves, respond to your lover’s caress and allow you to nurse your newborn. Sure, they can also hurt like hell just before your period and you may think that yours are either too large or too small. But, trust me, your breasts are precious friends you need to take good care of.
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As women get older and their fertile years pass, their breast tissue undergoes involution, an inevitable change during which the milk-producing system inside the breasts starts shrinking. Because breasts have no muscles, no exercises can prevent your breasts from losing both fullness and shape over time.
As hard as this reality may be, it’s a small price to pay when you consider even more negative afflictions, like breast cancer. Fortunately, there are preventative steps you can take toward early detection.
Besides asking your health provider about when you should start having regular clinical breast exams and mammograms, it’s a good idea to periodically check your breasts for lumps and irregularities.
Breast self-exams (BSEs) are best performed once a month beginning at age 20 and throughout your lifetime. If you experience changes in your breasts throughout your menstrual cycle, do the BSE during a time when your breasts are not tender.
BSEs may lead to false positive results and unnecessary biopsies (tissue samples) and anxiety, which leaves some women hesitant to perform them. Nevertheless, most health professionals recommend that women examine their breasts monthly, especially since mammograms do not always detect lumps.
Here is how to best examine your own breasts:
Start by looking at your breasts and the entire chest area in front of a tall mirror, first with relaxed arms and then with elevated arms placed behind your head. Look for any changes in size, shape or position of both breasts, dimpling of the skin, nipple changes (e.g. pushed-in or misshapen nipples), redness, swelling or other irregularities. It is normal for one breast to be slightly larger than the other.
Next, press your arms on your hips (activating your chest muscles under the breast tissue) and then lean forward while you look for any changes since your last BSE. Then repeat the process while looking at your breasts from both sides.
Next, feel for lumps in your entire breast area, which also includes the part of the breast tissue that extends into the armpit areas. Search especially for enlarged lymph nodes in both armpits. This can be done while lying down with a folded towel under your shoulder.
Squeeze and pull the nipples a little to see whether there is any abnormal discharge. Yellow nipple fluid is considered normal. Nipple fluid that is bloody, dark or clear and sticky is cause for concern and follow up. (If in doubt, check with your health practitioner.) While pushing the nipple deep into the hollow beneath it, it is important to note any unusual resistance, hardness or lumps beneath the nipple.
Using the tips of your index, middle and ring finger follow two patterns of moving your fingers over your breasts when feeling for lumps and irregularities in the breast tissue:
1) Vertical or “up and down” pattern covering the entire breast.
2) Spiral or ring pattern, making concentric rings that tighten in a spiral, starting on the outer edges of the breast and ending around the nipple.
For each area, press both softly and harder in order to examine superficial, as well as deeper, areas of your breast tissue. It’s a good idea to keep a monthly diary to document any particular things you may have noticed so you will be able to better follow up and compare the next month.
Charlottesville’s Annette Owens, MD, Ph.D., is certified by the American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors, and Therapists. She has co-edited the four-volume book, Sexual Health (Praeger).