Early detection is the key to the possibly best treatment and survival chances you can get for breast cancer. So, knowing and regularly performing breast cancer self-examination can help with early detection and, therefore, possibly better treatment. However, only self-examination is not going to cut it for breast cancer detection. For diagnosis, tests or imaging techniques like mammograms, ultrasound and biopsies are required along with self-examination. 

A breast cancer self-examination helps you become aware of what is normal for your body, which can, later on, serve as a reference if there ever comes a time when you discover any lumps or abnormalities in your breast. The best part about breast self-examination is that it is easy and can be done in 5 minutes at home. So, examining at a regular interval does not have the chance of clashing with your everyday schedule.

In this blog, we will be learning about all the techniques involved in how to check for breast lumps at home, but before that, let’s find out what breast self-examination is.

What is a Breast Self-examination?

Just like the name suggests, a breast self-examination involves seeing and feeling your breasts and becoming accustomed to their size, shape, feel, and texture. This helps women identify when something isn’t right or when there are any new lumps or bumps inside the breast. While mammograms and other clinical breast examinations are great for screening breast cancer, a self-examination is an invaluable tool for women to lower their cancer risk. 

Being in touch with your body can help you understand the changes it is going through as you age. It helps in quicker reporting of new changes to doctors, which allows for early breast cancer screening. This helps improve your treatment options and also the outcome of said treatments. So, how do you perform this breast self-examination test? Let’s find out.

How To Perform a Breast Self-examination?

Performing a breast examination involves different steps. Each of these steps is a different type of breast examination and all of them combined help you perform a thorough examination of the breast. There are three main steps , so let’s study each of them in detail.

Visual Examination: Visual examination is the easiest way to perform a breast self-examination at home. It simply requires you to stand topless in front of a mirror and visually inspect and familiarise yourself with your breasts. This exercise is crucial in visually understanding how your breasts look. This will help you identify any changes to the shape or size of your breasts over time. There are certain things that you must check when you are performing a visual inspection of your breasts. Check for any lumps that are visually visible. Check for any discolouration of the breast or nipples by comparing the two breasts. Check for any dimpling in the breast or nipples. Check for the presence of any ulceration or changes in the visual texture of the breasts. These are crucial breast cancer symptoms and need to be reported to your doctors at the earliest if you start noticing them.

Physical Examination While Standing: Once you are done visually inspecting your breasts, the next step is to physically examine them by touching them. This is done to get a thorough feel of your breasts and compare the two breasts to check for any differences. The most important thing that you need to check during physical examination is the presence of any lumps or thick spots inside your breasts. You can start by using mild pressure to press all the different parts of your breasts and check for lumps or bumps. Perform the same exercise again with medium and firm pressure on both your breasts. Once that’s done, make sure you inspect the area around your nipples (areolas) for lumps or any other visual changes. Lastly, you should squeeze the nipples to check for any discharge. This examination can be done easily at any time of the day, women often find it convenient to perform this exercise during shower time.

Physical Examination While Lying Down: A similar examination to the one performed while standing also needs to be done while lying down. This is because lying down often spreads the breast tissues evenly, especially for women who have larger breasts. The technique remains the same and involves pressing all the different parts of the breasts with light, medium, and firm pressure on both breasts to check for the presence of lumps or bumps. Lastly, the same examination needs to be performed on your nipples to check for any discharge. This exercise is highly effective in finding lumps that could be malignant. It also helps people get a better understanding of their body and notice any changes in the future.

The whole exercise routine should take no longer than five minutes, which is what makes it an easy yet effective breast cancer risk assessment technique for all women. While it is mainly recommended for women who are nearing menopause, women of all ages can perform these self-assessment checks to get a better understanding of their body. It helps improve the chance of early detection of malignant tumours, which improves the treatment outcome for breast cancer significantly. So, if you were wondering how to check for breast lumps at home, this is how you do it. Before you move on, there are certain breast examination guidelines that you must know to help you perform these examinations efficiently. Here are the important guidelines that you must keep in mind.

Your 5-Minute Breast Self-Exam Guidelines

There are certain things that you should and should not do when you are performing a self-breast examination. Following these guidelines will help you successfully perform these tests and get accurate results.

Do’s

• Make sure you are consistent with your breast examinations. The key is to perform them at least once a month every month to stay ahead of your cancer risk.
• Use different pressure levels when you are performing the test to make sure you are not missing any lumps that may not be able to feel at a light pressure level.
• Make sure you perform a visual check of the breasts from time to time as well as the physical examination to ensure your breasts are not exhibiting any visual breast cancer symptoms.

Don’ts

• Do not rush your physical examination. It is crucial to take your time and be thorough.
• Make sure you are checking all the areas of the breasts and the areolas, do not skip any part of the breast or even the muscle under the armpit.
• Don’t perform the breast examination right before or after your menstrual periods because menstruation can change the feel, size, and shape of your breasts, which may make your examination findings less accurate.

Conclusion

This is all you need to know about breast cancer self examinations. For more information please check out MASSH. We specialise in minimally invasive breast cancer treatments that are highly specialised to reduce the risk of cancer recurrence. Our surgeries are performed by the top oncological surgeons who specialise in advanced surgical procedures that are safe and offer quick recovery for patients. Visit us today to learn more about breast cancer treatment at MASSH or request a callback from our website today.