How To Deal With Finding A Lump On Your Breast
I have found a lump on my breast. What should I do?
All lumps on the breasts need to be looked at. Having said that, 80% or 90% of breast lumps are totally benign. Although they need to be checked, they only need to be checked because of the potential seriousness of it. The vast majority of breast lumps are not serious. Furthermore, a number of lumps in the breasts can be normal. The woman suffers a cyclical variation in her hormone levels every month. This change in the oestrogen levels can produce certain nodules or cysts in the breasts, particularly during the latter half of the cycle. It's always best to check breasts immediately after a period or during a period, but not during the latter half of the cycle. That's when you're going to notice your lumps least. If a breast lump is persistent, it needs to be checked by a doctor. He will assess whether it has any malignant features; the benign features of a lump are that it's rounded, mobile and often tender. He will usually request a mammogram or an ultrasound scan, or both. He may often request a biopsy. This is absolutely normal and should not concern the patient unduly, because very often we just need to make certain that the lump is not malignant. Patients have to understand that sometimes we do these things to reassure the patient that a breast lump is not malignant rather than because we suspect that it is malignant. Sometimes, I'm afraid patients just have to go through the process, get the lump looked at, get it sorted out, so that they can then forget about it.
