American Medical Association Family Medical Guide - American Medical Association [104]
If you detect anything unusual in a breast, let your doctor know right away. Although most breast lumps and other changes are not cancerous, they all should be evaluated by a doctor.
Percentage of cancerous tumors
Breast cancer is more likely to occur in some parts of the breast than in others. Most breast tumors occur in the upper, outer part of the breast (toward the armpit) or behind the nipple. Examine all parts of your breasts, but pay special attention to these areas. The percentage of cancerous tumors that are found in each part of the breast are shown here.
How to Perform a Breast Self-Examination
Positioning yourself correctly can make a difference in how easily you can feel lumps in your breasts. To perform a breast self-examination:
• Stand in front of a mirror with your arms at your sides and look carefully for lumps or other changes in each breast.
Use a mirror to examine your breasts
• Repeat the examination by raising both arms straight over your head and looking again for changes in your breasts, and then clasp your hands behind your head and pull your arms forward as you look for changes.
• Put your hands on your hips, push your elbows forward, and look for skin or nipple changes.
Place your hands on your hips and flex your chest muscles
• Squeeze both nipples between your thumb and forefinger and check for discharge.
• Lie on a flat surface (such as a firm bed or the floor) and put a pillow under the shoulder on the side of the breast you will be examining first. Raise the arm on that side and rest it over your head on the bed or floor. If you have large breasts, adjust your position until the tissue of the breast you are examining is evenly distributed.
Lie down with a pillow under your shoulder
• Using the pads, not the tips, of the middle three fingers of the hand opposite the breast, start examining your breast at the armpit. Use small, circular motions—about the size of a dime. Move your fingers around your breast in decreasing concentric circles, or up and down your breast in rows. Whichever technique you use, don’t take your fingers off your breast until you have covered every part of the breast. (Some women use body oil, lotion, or powder to make their fingers glide more easily over the breast.)
• Use lighter pressure to feel the skin. Increase the pressure slightly to feel for changes just below the skin surface. Use deep pressure to feel for changes closer to the ribs.
• Be sure to feel all the way from the middle of your armpit over to your breastbone (which runs down the center of your chest), and from your collarbone down to the crease under your breast.
• Repeat the entire examination on the other breast.
• Call your doctor right away if you think you feel a lump or detect any changes.
Testicle Self-Examination
All males who have reached puberty or are over age 15 should perform a testicle examination at least once a month (once a week is better) to check for any change that may be an early sign of cancer of the testicle (see page 824). In addition to any lump found in a testicle, any enlargement or shrinking of one of the testicles, buildup of fluid, feeling of heaviness, or ache, pain, or other discomfort in the testicles, scrotum, groin, or abdomen can be a sign of cancer and should be reported immediately to a doctor. Another sign of testicle cancer is enlargement or tenderness of the breasts.
Examining your testicles will help you become familiar with their normal feel and appearance. If you find a lump or swelling (painful or not), see a doctor right away. Although it is possible for cancerous lumps to occur on the front of a testicle, they develop more often on the sides.
How to Perform a Testicle Self-Examination
The best time to examine your testicles is after a warm bath or during a shower. Heat relaxes the muscles of the scrotum, making