A Breast Self-Examination Guide 
| A Breast Self-Examination Guide |
| Breast Cancer Survivors Margaret Harris and Patricia Derrick |
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Bravery Jacqueline Davis “To all Aboriginal sisters: early detection is your best protection. Don’t be afraid or embarrassed to practice breast self-examination and to have a mammogram; it could save your life. Breast cancer is everyone’s disease. As a survivor, I can tell you that my life has not been easy. I have known great hardship, but I have held on to my dreams. Hold on to yours—and to your life.” Breast Self-Examination, or BSE, should begin in the early teens and be practiced regularly once a month by age 25. Breast exams should be done whether you have small or large breasts. |
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When doing your BSE, use the pads, or the soft part of your fingers, not the tips, or end of your fingers. If you use the tips, and there is a lump, it could roll away. | ||
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There are different ways to do a BSE. The lines Method: Start at the armpit and move your finger pads up and down until you cover the whole breast. |
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The Bicycle Spoke Method Start from the outer side, work towards the nipple, and back out again. |
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The Circle Method Using the nipple as a starting point, make small circles over the whole breast right up to the collar bone. This is the method I prefer, but all of them are good. |
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 The shower is a good place to start your breast self-exam, and it only takes a few seconds. You are looking for lumps in your breasts. Lather up your hands with soap and start at the nipple, press down gently, but firm enough to feel but no hurt yourself. Making small continuous circular movements, go over the breast, but always remember to check under the nipple as there is an indentation there where cancer often grows. Women sometimes forget to check under the nipple. Make sure you go over the whole breast, up the middle of the breast to the collarbone, and slip right into the armpit or axilla. Check down the side of the breast as well. There are breast tissues and lymph nodes in the collarbone, armpit, breastbone, and between your breasts. Make sure you cover your entire breast even if you have to repeat it a few times. |
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In the next step, stand in front of a mirror in a well lit area. Examine your breasts carefully. You are looking for changes in the breast, things that are not normally there, such as inverted nipples, or retraction of the nipple where the nipple goes inward. If your nipple always stuck out, and now it goes in, then this is not normal. But, if your nipples always pointed inward, then this is normal for you. Look for discharge from the nipple like blood, puss, or any unusual discharge that does not go away. Now carefully lift your breast up towards you, examining the nipple more closely for scabbing, crusting, or weeping. Anything that should not be there. Now check the blood vessel patterns on the breast to see if they changed colour or are different in any way. Look at the skin to see if there is any dimpling or puckering. Something like the skin of an orange. Watch the colour for any redness or swollen parts of your breast. Look at the shape of your breasts. You want to see if they have gotten larger all of a sudden or have a weird shape. It’s not unusual to have one breast larger than the other, but you are looking for changes. | ||
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Raising both hands over your head, examine the whole breast area, and turn sideways left to right, and look at the back area as well. With your hands on your hips, pull your shoulders back, this will allow your breasts to lift up. Look for changes of any kind. Turning sideways, check the sides and back as well. With one hand still on the hip, and using the other hand, check deep into the armpit or axilla, and make sure you check the axilla tail or down the side. | ||
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Now bend forward with your hands on your hips. This will allow the breasts to fall freely. Again, examine the breasts, twist to the left and right, and look at the back area. | ||
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Lying down on the bed, put a towel or pillow diagonally or angle-wise under the shoulder and arm. This will help to even out the breast tissue. Again, using the pads of the fingers, press down on the nipple with enough pressure to feel it, but not to hurt yourself. Start with small circular motions, feed the nipple, then go under the nipple, checking the space as cancer can grown there as well. Still making the circles without lifting the hands up, continue up the breastbone to the collarbone, across the top, into the armpit, and down the axillary tail to the side of the breast. Go under the breast, and don’t forget it’s normal to feel a hard fold under there. To do the other side, just move the towel or pillow under your other shoulder, and repeat the exam with your other breast. |
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Average size lumps found: If you are pre-menopausal and still have your moon (periods), do your breast self-examination 7-10 days after you start your period. That’s roughly a week after your moon (period) starts. If you are post-menopausal and don’t have periods any more, then pick a day of the month that is easy to remember, like the first of the month, and mark it on the calendar. Do your exam on that day every month. August 1 BSE |
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Some women have lumpy breasts. If you have lumpy breasts, you need to make a note of where they are on a chart like this. Mark the lumpies in a colour like blue. Then, when you do your BSE, you will note that these are normal. But if you find a new lump, mark it in a different colour and take the chart to your doctor to make sure everything is alright. | ||
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As well as monthly breast self-exams, it is important for women to have a mammogram every 2 years (or otherwise advised by your doctor). This is an easy procedure that involves x-raying your breasts from different angles. The pictures can show small calcium deposits in the breast and spot very small lumps that would not show up in a BSE. | ||
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About 85% of lumps found are not cancerous. In younger women, a common cause of lumps in the breast is fibrocystic disease or fibroadenoma, but it’s really important, if you find a new lump in the breast, to go and see your family doctor and have this checked out. The number of deaths from breast cancer in North American is going down; probably because of greater awareness of breast health and better treatment. Practising breast self-examinations monthly and having a regular mammogram is your best prevention. |
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Remember to:
1. Do your monthly breast self-examination at the same time each month. If you don’t have your moon (period), pick a day of the month and do your BSE on that same day every month. If you have your moon, do your BSE 7-10 days after the start of your moon.
| 1. | Photograph of Jacqueline Davis from the Native Education Centre of Vancouver, BC |
| 2. | Photographs courtesy of: The primary Care &mCencer Breast Self-Examination Guide Bristol-Myers Squibb -- Oncology Division |
| 3. | Breast model Rose Bolton |
| 4. | Mammography breast model Marie Weitzil |
| 5. | Mammography technician at the Vancouver Centre, BC Cancer Agency, Elaine Kilby |
| WE WILL SAVE LIVES FOR GENERATIONS TO COME |
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