October is the official breast cancer awareness month, a month when everyone around the world is trying to spread awareness of the disease but also to collect money for cancer research.
Cancer is when cells start to grow uncontrollably. Since the human body consists of around 37 trillion cells which all have different duties and can be found in different places of the human body, it’s possible to get multiple different kinds of cancer.
When it comes to breast cancer, it’s mostly women who get it but men can get it too. The American Cancer Society says that there are around 4 different places where breast cancer can start, the most common one is ductal cancer which is when there’s cancer in the ducts. The ACS also says that although a lot of different types of cancer can create lumps some doesn’t. Therefore it’s important to do mammograms which can detect cancer at an early stage, before symptoms or before there are any lumps.
According to Breastcancer.org, there are some groups that have a larger risk of getting breast cancer, a few of those groups are:
- Being a woman The major risk of getting breast cancer is obviously to be a woman. Only less than 1% of the new breast cancer cases happen to men.
- Age The older you get the larger risk is there to get breast cancer. 2 out of 3 cases of breast cancer happens to women 55 years old or older.
- Family history/genetics Women who have a close relative with breast cancer have 3 to 4 times higher risk to develop breast cancer. 5-10% of cases of breast cancer are believed to be hereditary.
- Personal history of breast cancer People who have had breast cancer before have 3 to 4 times bigger risk to get it again.
If you want to read more about different risk factors you can check out breastcancer.org by clicking here.
There are a few signs on breast cancer which you can keep an eye on yourself.
- Constant pain in the breast or armpit. - Change of skin texture, e.g. dimpling. - The breasts are different in size or shape. - Liquid comes from the nipple. - The nipple changing position or shape. - Lump or thickening that feels different from the rest of the breast tissue. - Rash or redness around the nipple. - Swelling around the armpits or collarbones.
How to self-examine your breasts: 1. Gently use your fingertips to examine the breast and armpit area. 2. Move the fingertips from the top to the bottom of the breast a few times. 3. Then move your fingertips in a semi-circle motion. 4. Lastly, move the fingertips in a full-circle. 5. Then you can look in the mirror for visual lumps, skin and texture changes and in changes of nipple size.
Lastly, if you have the possibility please consider buying a pink ribbon to support the research about breast cancer and cancer in general. Our lovely Melk has created a pink ribbon which you can wear on VP. The code is unlimited and for both genders! Code: BreastCancerAwarenessMonth
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