Breast History

One of the most dreaded disease among women is undeniably breast cancer. Since there a lot of women who are made to believe that a family history of breast cancer automatically makes them likely candidates to develop the disease, those who have none of those genes are very complacent about the whole thing.

But while the history of breast cancer in a woman’s family may increase her risk of developing the disease, most breast cancer patients were women who have no such family history. However, women who have relatives with breast cancer should inform their doctors about it.

Even if a woman has breast cancer history in the family, much can be done about her risks if she adopts an early detection plan. Generally, early breast cancer detection includes the following: regular breast self-examinations for women who are 20 and above; clinical breast exams every 3 years for women between 20-39 years old, and yearly for those aged 40 and above; mammography every one or two years for those who are 40-49 years old, and yearly for women 50 years old and above; personal breast history checklist of the various exams and doctor visits; lifestyle change which includes exercise, low-fat diet, and absence of alcohol and smoking.

It is sometimes hard to convince some women to practice the different early breast cancer detection methods because they feel that they are spared from the disease if they have no family history of breast cancer. Others are scared at finding out what the exams will tell them, and will only know that they have the disease when it is already rather late to stop it.

There are also some women who are extremely worrywarts about the whole “lump” thing. This has been the reason why the breast self-exams were being debated over. Women were said to have undergone unnecessary biopsies because of the fear that their lumps are cancer cells. However, studies show that only two out of ten lumps are actually cancerous.

There is really no point in criticizing breast self-exams, because a good 70% of all cases of breast cancers were detected through them. Although some cancerous lumps are not detectable by touch, breast self-exams remain to be one of our most trusted early detection plans.

Surviving breast cancer patients will attest that the reason they were able to hurdle the disease is because they were serious about their personal breast history scheme. This means that they follow the required exams and recommended clinic visits. As research reveals, the five year survival rate of breast cancer when detected early is 96%.

Women who fear of getting the disease because of a family history of breast cancer are the ones who need to be more vigilant about the early detection methods. Since it is a given fact that they are at an increased risk of getting breast cancer, finding cancer cell during its onset can help them battle it better. But then again, having one or several risk factors does not instantly give you the disease. In fact, some women who have a strong history of breast cancer in the family were never even diagnosed with the disease throughout their lifetime. Moreover, even if a woman with a lot of risk factors is diagnosed with breast cancer, there is really no way of pointing out that those were the reasons why she has the disease.

The best way to battle breast cancer does not lie in the various treatment options that science has come up with. Instead, it all depends on the awareness of one’s breast history. After all, personal breast history knowledge makes risk assessment a lot more reliable.