Breast Cancer: Symptoms

Initially, breast cancer may not cause any symptoms. A lump may be too small for you to feel or to cause any unusual changes you can notice on your own. Often, an abnormal area turns up on a screening mammogram (x-ray of the breast), which leads to further testing. This is why it is so important to be screened regularly, because catching the problem early increases your chance of a good prognosis, and if you wait until you feel a lump, etc. you may have waited longer than you should have to get the problem fixed.

In some cases, however, the first sign of breast cancer is a new lump or mass in the breast that you or your doctor can feel. A lump that is painless, hard, and has uneven edges is more likely to be cancer. But sometimes cancers can be tender, soft, and rounded. So it's important to have anything unusual checked by your doctor.

According to the American Cancer Society, any of the following unusual changes in the breast can be a symptom of breast cancer:

• swelling of all or part of the breast
• skin irritation or dimpling
• breast pain
• nipple pain or the nipple turning inward
• redness, scaliness, or thickening of the nipple or breast skin
• a nipple discharge other than breast milk - may be bloody, clear to yellow, green, and look like pus
• a lump in the underarm area
• Breast lump or lump in the armpit that is hard, has uneven edges, and usually does not hurt

These changes also can be signs of less serious conditions that are not cancerous, such as an infection or a cyst. It’s important to get any breast changes checked out promptly by a doctor.

Symptoms of advanced breast cancer may include:

• Bone pain 
• Breast pain or discomfort
• Skin ulcers
• Swelling of one arm (next to the breast with cancer)
• Weight loss

Men can get breast cancer, too. Symptoms include breast lump and breast pain and tenderness.

Source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001911/

Post Title : Breast Cancer: Symptoms

Breast Cancer: Symptoms,

screening,

Breast Cancer: Symptoms