Breasts self-examinations have gone a bit farther, if not cozier. Women are encouraged to do it not only when standing but also when lying in bed too.
Self-help guides on breast self-examinations even taught women how to do it while taking showers.
Not anymore in some cases, where a particular lump is detectable only when lying down, shares Hayley Browning in her Facebook post.
Browning, 27 years old, said the lump in her breast, which was sort of unexpected, was detected when she was lying down.
The discovery prompted her to see a doctor, which later led to cancer diagnosis.
Breasts Self-Exams Unnecessary, But Awareness Is Important
She called on "all women to check for lumps lying down, as well as standing up," Browning posted on Facebook, which has received more 100,000 likes and shares.
Dr. Bonnie Reichman, a clinical associate of medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine, agreed it is important for a woman to know her body, saying "many lumps are picked up by women themselves."
Try doing it in different positions, Reichman said. It could be done when standing in front of a mirror, lying down, or with arms raised above the head.
Many doctors still perform clinical breasts exams on their patients, but the American Cancer Society discouraged it.
Research showed, according to ACS, that regular breasts self-examinations do not guarantee early detection of lump that will lead to diagnosis.
Monthly breast self-exam is unnecessary for women under 40, Dr. Mylin Torres said. She explained that only a very small number of women under 40 has a lump in their breasts.
She has this word of caution, however, to women: Awareness on what your breasts look like is important.
Fear Of False-Positive Mammogram Results
Fear of false-positive results often led women to shy away from mammograms. False-positive report happens when mammograms find something suspicious in breasts but later turn out not to be cancer.
The chance of a false-positive result is only 50 to 60 percent. It is higher among younger women with dense breasts.
Receiving false-positive results must not discourage women to undergo the tests.
Breast imaging specialist Dr. Stefanie Zalasin at Northern Westchester Hospital in New York said women with false-positive result are still likely to develop breasts cancer later.
Mammogram, with overall sensitivity of 84 percent, is an essential tool to diagnose women with breasts cancer especially for women 50 years old and above.
This unfounded fear often causes delayed detection of breasts cancer — a fatal mistake because early detection of lump can save lives.
