It is the most common form of cancer, besides skin cancer. More than 240,000 new cases are expected in 2016, according to the American Cancer Society.
“The general population risk for breast cancer is about a 12% risk of breast cancer, lifetime, and that increases with age,” said Dr. Everett Bonner. “So, a woman who enters in her 30’s, her risk of breast cancer, at that particular time, is about a half percent. A woman who is 60 years old, her risk of breast cancer is about four-percent, and it goes up from there.”
Dr. Bonner is a surgical breast oncologist at the Baton Rouge Clinic. Dr. Bonner said women more at risk for the disease are those who have a family history of breast cancer, if they have a previous history of the cancer, if they’ve been exposed to radiation therapy and if they have been on hormones to name some.
“We also find an increase risk in women who are overweight because of their higher levels of estrogen because there’s a peripheral conversion of fats to estrogens,” said Dr. Bonner. “Women who delay their children-baring years or women who haven’t had children at all or who have not been pregnant, also have an increased risk of breast cancer.”
Dr. Bonner said most women get diagnosed without any symptoms at all.
“But one of the things you should look out for, especially doing your self-breast exam, if there are any lumps or any nodules on the breasts or any type of masses,” said Dr. Bonner. “If women have any skin changes or if they have any thickening of the breast tissue or a thickening of the skin or if they have any discoloration of the nipple, as well as discharge from the nipple.”
Most doctors recommend getting mammograms if you’re over the age of 40, but women can check themselves for any lumps by doing a self-exam.
“It’s recommended to start doing self breast exams as earlier as age 20, and what they can do is, best place is in the shower. You’re already there. You’re already washing up,” explained Dr. Bonner. “I recommend doing it around the same time of the month, and if you’re premenapausal and having menstrual cycles, so after your cycle, when your hormones are at a lower cycle.”
There are some misconceptions about it too.
“If you have a diagnosis of breast cancer, it’s a fatalistic event. It’s not. There are many great treatments that are available for patients, and the survival and cure rate is very, very high,” concluded Dr. Bonner.
If you want to learn more about breast cancer and your risks, you can head to the links below:
http://www.cancer.org/cancer/breastcancer/
http://www.cdc.gov/cancer/breast/