Breast Cancer Awareness
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)Trusted Source, breast cancer is the second most common cancer in women.
According to statistics from the ACSTrusted Source, approximately 268,600 new cases of invasive breast cancer are expected to be diagnosed in the United States in 2019.
Invasive breast cancer is cancer that has spread from the ducts or glands to other parts of the breast. More than 41,000 women are expected to die from the disease.
Breast cancer can also be diagnosed in men. The ACS also estimates that in 2019, more than 2,600 men will be diagnosed, and approximately 500 men will die from the disease.
Queen, have you conducted your daily screening? There are several risk factors that increase your chances of getting breast cancer. However, having any of these doesn’t mean you will definitely develop the disease. Some risk factors can’t be avoided, such as family history; however, you can change other risk factors, such as quitting smoking, if you smoke. See the list below for risk factors of breast cancer:
Age. Your risk for developing breast cancer increases as you age. Most invasive breast cancers are found in women over age 55 years.
Drinking alcohol. Alcohol use disorder raises your risk.
Having dense breast tissue. Dense breast tissue makes mammograms hard to read. It also increases your risk for breast cancer.
Gender. White women are 100 timesTrusted Source more likely to develop breast cancer than white men, and Black women are 70 times more likely to develop breast cancer than Black men.
Genes. Women who have the BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene mutations are more likely to develop breast cancer than women who don’t. Other gene mutations may also affect your risk.
Early menstruation. If you had your first period before age 12 years, you have an increased risk for breast cancer.
Giving birth at an older age. Women have their first child after age 35 years have an increased risk for breast cancer.
Hormone therapy. Women who took or are taking postmenopausal estrogen and progesterone medications to help reduce their signs of menopause symptoms have a higher risk for breast cancer.
Inherited risk. If a close female relative has had breast cancer, you have an increased risk for developing it. This includes your mother, grandmother, sister, or daughter. If you don’t have a family history of breast cancer, you can still develop breast cancer. In fact, most women who develop it have no family history of the disease.
Late menopause start. Women who start menopause after age 55 years are more likely to develop breast cancer.
Never having been pregnant. Women who have never become pregnant or carried a pregnancy to full term are more likely to develop breast cancer.
Previous breast cancer. If you have had breast cancer in one breast, you have an increased risk for developing breast cancer in your other breast or in a different area of the previously affected breast.
Recognize the signs and symptoms and contact your Doctor immediately for additional assistance. In its early stages, breast cancer may not cause any symptoms. In many cases, a tumor may be too small to be felt, but an abnormality can still be seen on a mammogram. If a tumor can be felt, the first sign is usually a new lump in the breast that was not there before. However, not all lumps are cancer.
Each type of breast cancer can cause a variety of symptoms. Many of these symptoms are similar, but some can be different.
Symptoms for the most common breast cancers include:
a breast lump or tissue thickening that feels different than surrounding tissue and has developed recently
breast pain
red, pitted skin over your entire breast
swelling in all or part of your breast
a nipple discharge other than breast milk
bloody discharge from your nipple
peeling, scaling, or flaking of skin on your nipple or breast
a sudden, unexplained change in the shape or size of your breast
inverted nipple
changes to the appearance of the skin on your breasts
a lump or swelling under your arm
MomE 2 MomE LLC does not employee medical professionals, the information provided above is for informational purposes only, for specifically tailored care please consult with your Primary Care Physician.
