October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

October is breast cancer awareness month, and since breast cancer can occur at any time of the year, I am leaving this page up all year long. And yes-man can get breast cancer as well!

Until we can completely prevent and/or cure cancers, the best weapon that we have is early detection. Our best early detection protocols are for colon cancer and breast cancer. One of the things that we have noticed happening because of the Covid pandemic, is that people have decreased the amount of screening that they do, which is leading to more cases of invasive cancer being discovered. While it is understandable that people want to stay away from hospitals and doctors’ offices, it is important to realize that early detection is our single best weapon against cancers.

In the past women were told to do regular self breast exams and have their yearly imaging. Recent guidelines from societies have said that self exams are no longer necessary, which has led to lots of confusion. Approximately 20% of breast cancers will not show up on standard screening imaging, so self exams are still important. Imaging is also important because when done properly, it will discover cancers several years before they become large enough to actually feel.

Gentleman-almost all the attention of breast cancer is on women, because everyone knows that only women get breast cancer while only men get prostate cancer. Right? Wrong! Approximately 1% of all breast cancers occur in men. Because we do not do self-exam and because we do not do image screening with mammograms and ultrasounds, almost all of our breast cancers are discovered in the advanced stages.

The best advice I can give to women is to continue to do your self breast exams and follow through with your imaging screening. Recent advice to abandon self exams assumes you are 100% compliant with radiology imaging, even though imaging can still miss tumors. If you are concerned about something that you feel, you need to see your doctor. If your doctor does not share your level of concern, you should see someone else. You need to be your own best advocate.

The best advice I can give to men is that any lump in a breast or a “pec”, especially one that is firm and nontender, is a cancer until proven otherwise. You need to see your health care provider and leave your ego at home. It may be the difference between life and death.

The best advice I can give to all patients is to continue with your preventative health care maintenance.

Be safe. Stay Safe.