What to do if you have a lump in your breast

Breasts are very important to women. Some women will find lumps in their breasts when they reach a certain age. Don't worry too much if you find this situation. Breast lumps are a symptom like many diseases. It does not mean that a lump is a very serious disease. The shape and size of breast lumps are closely related to the severity of the disease, so it is necessary to find out the cause before treating it accordingly.

Most lumps in premenopausal women are benign. Even so, if you find a non-isolated lump in your breast, you should immediately seek medical advice. 50% of the lumps in postmenopausal women who have not used estrogen replacement therapy are benign and 50% are malignant. Some patients believe that benign breast lumps can be left alone, with the only risk being the possibility of missing the chance of finding cancer. In clinical practice, we use traditional Chinese medicine to treat benign breast tumors, with good results. Some small benign breast lumps may not require treatment, but you should conduct self-examination and ask your doctor to examine you in time to detect changes in the lumps in time. For breast abscesses or lumps caused by acute inflammation, antibiotic treatment or drainage should be given promptly.

There are 15-20 glandular lobes in the breast, and each lobe is divided into many lobules. Each gland lobe has a separate duct (milk duct), which is arranged radially with the nipple as the center. The mammary gland is a target organ for many endocrine glands and changes with the menstrual cycle.

Fibroid glands are common among female college students. They are hard, smooth, have clear boundaries, good mobility, and have the potential for malignant transformation. Once discovered, it should be surgically removed, but it is prone to recurrence. The following is an introduction to chronic breast disease. This disease, also known as chronic cystic breast hyperplasia, is a benign hyperplasia caused by endocrine disorders and is related to abnormal sex hormone metabolism, especially the imbalance of estrogen and progesterone ratio. This disease is easily confused with breast cancer.

The prominent clinical manifestations are breast tenderness and lumps. In most patients, the pain is related to the menstrual cycle. The pain often worsens 3 to 5 days before menstruation and eases or disappears after menstruation. Sometimes the pain exists throughout the menstrual cycle and the course of the disease is long. Examination may reveal diffuse hyperplasia of one or both breasts, which may be limited to one part of the breast or dispersed throughout the breast. The lumps are granular, nodular or flaky, of varying sizes, tough but not hard, movable, tender, with unclear boundaries from surrounding tissues, and the axillary lymph nodes are not large. A small number of patients may have nipple discharge.

Most of the lumps that premenopausal women suffer from are cystic breast hyperplasia and fibroadenomas, which are mostly caused by hormonal fluctuations. Cystic hyperplasia is filled with fluid, so it feels soft and can slide under the skin; fibroadenoma is caused by hyperplasia of connective tissue, has clear boundaries with surrounding tissues, can move freely, and is hard but not as hard as stone. The main characteristic of large duct papilloma of the nipple is nipple discharge (bloody). The lumps are generally small and soft, while the lumps of cancer are as hard as stone, adhered to the surrounding areas and cannot move. The rest of the mass in the breast may simply be some exaggerated nuclei, but it is clearly different from the surrounding tissue. Doctors often refer to it as "fibroglandular breast changes."

If you find a new lump in your breast, you should seek medical attention immediately. Doctors generally use color ultrasound or mammography and other technologies to make diagnoses.