Female Breast Examination

Regular breast examinations are a necessary means to effectively prevent breast diseases. In recent years, breast diseases have become more and more frequent and have become an important disease factor that endangers women's bodies. If breast diseases are not treated in time, they may develop into breast cancer, which can cause great harm to a woman's body. The following article will explain to female friends the necessity of breast examination.

Breast cancer is a major public problem in today's society, with 99% of the incidence occurring in women. Therefore, doing a good self-examination is one of the effective ways to prevent breast cancer. So when is the best time for women to have a breast exam? What should you pay attention to when doing a breast examination? Let’s take a look together.

What should be paid attention to during breast examination? When is the best time for women to have breast examination?

The following are some ways for female friends to self-examine:

1. The correct way to examine and touch the breasts is to stretch out your palm flat with four fingers together, and use the most sensitive index finger, middle finger, and ring finger to gently touch the upper and outer lower, lower and inner upper areas of the breast in order, and finally the nipple and areola area in the middle of the breast. During the examination, do not pinch the breast tissue with your fingers, otherwise you will mistake the pinched breast tissue for a lump.

2. Starting from the sitting position, any inversion of the nipple, skin depression, or abnormal structure or shape are clues to cancer deep in the breast. The above signs will appear if the patient claps his hands above his head to contract his pectoral muscles. It is easier to examine the lymph nodes above and below the clavicle and under the arms when women are in a sitting position. Finally, palpation is performed while you are sitting, using your fingers together to feel the area under the nipple.

3. Lie on your back and palpate a wider area. Place a pillow under the ipsilateral breast and raise the ipsilateral hand above the head so that the breast is evenly spread on the chest wall, making it easier for the fingers to touch deeper areas. Use the palm surface of the index, middle and ring fingers rather than the fingertips for palpation. The palpation should be done in a circular motion from the nipple to the outside. It is especially important to examine the breast that extends into the armpit.

4. Breast examination should first observe the development of the breast. Whether the breasts on both sides are symmetrical in size, whether the nipples on both sides are similar, whether they are at the same level, whether they are retracted and sunken; whether the nipple and areola are eroded, what is the color of the breast skin, whether there is edema and orange peel-like changes, whether there is redness and swelling and other inflammation, whether the superficial veins in the breast area are dilated, etc.

What are the precautions for breast examination?

1. Pay attention to medical history

Medical history is a reference material. Medical history such as menstrual history, marital history, previous breast disease history and family history of breast cancer are of great significance for predisposing physical examinations and further examinations.

2. Pay attention to physical signs

It is important to attach importance to the physical examination of the breast. Do not rely too much on imaging examinations and ignore clinical signs with diagnostic value, which may lead to misdiagnosis, or prescribe many examinations in a scattershot manner, causing patients to bear unnecessary burdens due to inappropriate auxiliary examinations. The examination must also be targeted, and palpation is a necessary step in breast examination because clinical signs are very important references.

3. References

Follow the principle of comparing both sides, first the healthy side and then the affected side; pay attention to the comprehensiveness of the examination, follow the principle of visual inspection first and then palpation, first the breast and then the whole body, do not miss any sign, every detail, and do not miss any axillary lymph nodes. Comparison is an important method of breast examination and an important reference standard during self-examination.