Many women do not realize the importance of doing self breast exams on a regular basis let alone doing them each month. There are a great many women that feel that once a year trip to the gynecologist is all they need for their check up on their
body.
Often time's women will suffer with breast cancer for quiet sometime and not know it until it is too late. Situations like these can be avoided or helped a great deal if self breast exams are done monthly. The best defense against cancer is early detection.
If caught early enough, breast cancer can be treated and taken care of before it spreads and gets harder to treat. Women can end up loosing an entire breast with the removal of the tumor so you can see that early detection is important.
By doing a self breast exam on your self each month you can catch a lump in its early stages and get it checked quickly to protect yourself.
Some doctors believe that women shy away from asking how to do a self breast exam as they are embarrassed to discuss how to do the exam with their doctor. What they do not realize is that they can be doing themselves more harm then good.
By not checking regularly for lumps or abnormalities in your breasts you can miss something that can be life threatening if undetected.
Monthly breast exams are very simple to do and you can do them in the privacy of your own home. Many women find it easiest to do these exams while they are just out of the shower.
You will want to do your exam around the same time each month and make sure that you do it several days after your monthly menstrual cycle ends. You should start out by standing in from of a mirror so you can see what you are doing.
You should start with your hand on your hips and look for anything that looks out of the ordinary such as the shape, color and the size of each breast.
You want to look for such things as dimpling, puckering, redness, bulging or any sort of changes in your nipples. When doing the exam you want to be sure to raise your arms over your head and look for the same possible changes again.
You need to check each nipple for discharge by gently squeezing each nipple. Some women will naturally have a discharge from their nipples but if you find that you have one then you want to talk to your doctor about this to be sure that it is nothing to worry about.
Next you will need to lie down and check each breast firmly. Keep your fingers together and flat while you work around the breast in a circular motion. You want to check from your collar bone to the top of your abdomen as well as from your cleavage to your armpit.
Then you will want to do the same techniques while you are sitting down. Be sure to call your doctor to discuss your finding if you feel something is not normal.
