Description

HealthCentral teaches you how to perform a Breast Self Exam.

Transcript

How to Perform Breast Self-Exam Breast carcinoma or breast cancer is the most commonly occurring cancer in middle age women. The breasts are specialized accessory glands of the skin consisting abduct embedded in fatty tissue. Breast cancer can arise in the duct system anywhere from the nipple to terminal lobule. Most often, the cancer is detected after it has spread to other parts of the body. Periodic breast self exams are essential for early identification and treatment. The breast self exam should be done regularly every month immediately following the menstrual cycle. Step one, visual inspection. Look for any changes in the skin over the breasts like redness, swelling or puckering and nipple changes like discharge, scaling or indentation. Step two, tactile inspection. There are three ways to physically examine the breasts, the circle method. Move the three middle fingers in a circular fashion starting from the outer edge of the breast towards the nipple. The line method, move the three middle fingers starting from the underarm area down below the breast. Move slowly back upwards repeating this until the entire breast is felt. Wedge method, move the three middle fingers beginning at the outer edge towards the nipple repeat the procedure for every wedge until the entire breast is felt. Regardless of the method, the objective is to feel the entire breast and observe any abnormal changes. The breast should be soft and smooth to the touch, a special attention to check the underarm and upper chest areas.