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Breast Cancer Awareness
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, an annual campaign to raise awareness about the impact of breast cancer. Join us as we RISE together to help uplift women in need.
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and Breast cancer is the most common malignancy in women, comprising 20-30% of all cancers. Breast cancer starts in the cells of the breast as a group of cancer cells that can then invade surrounding tissues or spread (metastasize) to other areas of the body.
One of our top priorities is educating ourself on breast health. If you have breast cancer risk factors, talk with your doctor about ways you can lower your risk and about screening for breast cancer. So, knowledge and early detection saves lives.
Dealing with cancer is a life-changing event for most people. For many, it can be a time to minimize regrets and make new priorities. Try to live each day as normally as you can. Enjoy the simple things you like to do and take pleasure in big events.
What Are the Risk Factors for Breast Cancer?
Most common aetiological factors are exposure to radiation, and viral, dietary, hormonal and genetic factors.
Having a risk factor does not mean you will get the disease, and not all risk factors have the same effect.
- Not being physically active.
- Being overweight or obese after menopause/ Getting older.
The risk for breast cancer increases with age; most breast cancers are diagnosed after age 50
- Taking hormones.
Some forms of hormone replacement therapy (those that include both estrogen and progesterone) taken during menopause can raise risk for breast cancer when taken for more than five years. Certain oral contraceptives (birth control pills) also have been found to raise breast cancer risk.
- Family history of breast or ovarian cancer.
A woman’s risk for breast cancer is higher if she has a mother, sister, or daughter (first-degree relative) or multiple family members on either her mother’s or father’s side of the family who have had breast or ovarian cancer.
- Reproductive history
Having the first pregnancy after age 30, not breastfeeding, and never having a full-term pregnancy can raise breast cancer risk.
- Drinking alcohol
Studies show that a woman’s risk for breast cancer increases with the more alcohol she drinks.
Early Warning Signs Of Breast Cancer
Symptom of breast tumours vary from person to person. Some common, early warning signs of breast cancer include:
- Skin changes, such as swelling, redness, or other visible differences in one or both breasts.
- An increase in size or change in the shape of the breast(s).
- Changes in the appearance of one or both nipples.
- Nipple discharge other than breast milk.
- General pain in/on any part of the breast.
- Lumps or nodes felt on or inside of the breast.
How Is Breast Cancer Diagnosed?
- Breast UltraSound
- Diagnostic mammogram
If you have a problem in your breast, such as lumps, or if an area of the breast looks abnormal on a screening mammogram, doctors may have you get a diagnostic mammogram. This is a more detailed X-ray of the breast.
- Breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
A kind of body scan that uses a magnet linked to a computer. The MRI scan will make detailed pictures of areas inside the breast.
- Biopsy
This is a test that removes tissue or fluid from the breast to be looked at under a microscope and do more testing. There are different kinds of biopsies (for example, fine-needle aspiration, core biopsy, or open biopsy).
What Can I Do to Reduce My Risk of Breast Cancer?
You can’t change some factors, such as getting older or your family history, but you can help lower your risk of breast cancer by taking care of your health in the following ways:
- Breast self-exam, or regularly examining your breasts on your own, can be an important way to find breast cancer early.
- Keep a healthy weight.
- Exercise regularly.
- Don’t drink alcohol, or limit alcoholic drinks.
- If you are taking, or have been told to take, hormone replacement therapy external icon or oral contraceptive external icon (birth control pills), ask your doctor about the risks and find out if it is right for you.
- Breastfeed your children, if possible.
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