Breast Self-exam

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW:

Checking your own breasts for lumps and other changes is called a breast self-exam (BSE). Doing BSE's can help you learn how your breasts normally look and feel. Then if you have breast changes, you may find them and tell your caregiver right away. Although most breast lumps or changes are not cancer, you should always have them checked by a caregiver. Breast cancers that are caught early may be better treated than breast cancers caught later. It is important for every woman to make her own personal decision about doing BSE's.

INSTRUCTIONS:

How should I do a BSE?

To check your breasts well, you must look and feel for changes. Divide your BSE into two steps.

• 1. Look at your breasts in a mirror. Look at the size and shape of each breast and nipple. Check for swelling, lumps, dimpling (looks like orange peel), scaly skin, or other skin changes. Look for nipple changes, such as a nipple that is painful or beginning to pull inward. Gently squeeze both nipples and check to see if fluid (that is not breast milk) comes out of them. If you find any of these or other breast changes, call your caregiver right away. Check your breasts while you sit or stand in three different positions. Look at your breasts while you:
  
  
  • Hang your arms down at your sides.
    
    
  • Raise your hands and join them behind your head.
    
    
  • Put firm pressure with your hands on your hips. Bend slightly forward while you look at your breasts in the mirror.
  
  
• 2. Lie down and feel your breasts. Lying down is the best position for doing a BSE. When you lie down, your breast tissue spreads out evenly over your chest. This makes it easier for you to feel for lumps and anything that may not be normal for your breasts. Do a BSE on one breast at a time.
  
  
  • Place a small pillow or towel under your left shoulder. Put your left arm behind your head.
    
    
  • Use the three middle fingers of your right hand to do the BSE. Use your fingertip pads to do the exam. Fingertip pads are the top parts of your fingers. For example, you may use your fingertip pads to type on a computer.
    
    
  • Use three types of pressure while you do your BSE. First, press lightly. Second, press with medium pressure to feel a little deeper into the breast. Last, use firm pressure to feel deep within your breast.
    
    
  • Use small circles to feel your breast tissue. Use your fingertip pads to make dime-sized, overlapping circles on your breast and armpits.
    
    
  • Examine your entire breast area using up and down lines. Examine the breast area from above the breast (collarbone) to below the breast where you feel only ribs. Examine the area from the armpit and all the way over to the middle of your chest. Make small circles with your fingertips starting in the middle of your armpit. Make the circles going up and down the breast area in up and down lines. Continue making the up and down lines toward your breast and all the way across it. Stop at the middle of your chest. This way you will not miss any breast tissue that could have lumps or other changes.
    
    
  • Move the pillow or towel to your right shoulder, and put your right arm behind your head. Using the three fingertip pads of your left hand, repeat the above steps to do a BSE on your right breast.
    
    
  • Sit or stand up to examine your armpit areas again. Raise your arm up slightly, but not all the way above your head. Raising your arm too high may tighten the skin too much and make it difficult to examine. Feel for lumps or other changes in each armpit.

Call your caregiver right away if:

• You find any lumps or changes in your breasts.
  
  
• You have breast pain or fluid (other than breast milk) coming from your nipples.

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The above information is an educational aid only. It is not intended as medical advice for individual conditions or treatments. Talk to your doctor, nurse or pharmacist before following any medical regimen to see if it is safe and effective for you.