Jul 08
22
Dr.’s to Stop Recommending Breast Self Exams?
Well, while I can’t really say I’d personally recommend this since there are actually a few women I know who were alerted to the fact that they had breast cancer because of self exams or sort of accidental self exams or exams by their significant other if you know what I mean, but there is talk in the medical community now of not recommending breast self exams.Â
They say that the self exams are especially not needed for those that are in the younger age group – ie perhaps under 45-50 years old since the risk dramatically increases with age in women. I think that this bit of news, which happens to be coming from breast cancer specialists and researchers, can perhaps be a bit confusing to women of all ages, since we’re basically had it pounded in our heads over and over since we started visiting our gynecologists at a young age, that breast self exams could potentially save our lives if they were performed in a timely manner and with due dilligence.Â
Specialists are saying now that breast self exams, also termed BSE’s as an acronym, say that self exams can not only be too confusing and result in too many biopsies and false alarms, but they also may be hard for patients to remember, and may give a false sense of security and have women doing them instead of going to get what they should, which is an annual mammogram, especially if in the target risk groups defined by age, and sometimes even race depending on the type of breast cancer you’re talking about.Â
Even with this news, many women swear by BSE’s, and say that they’ve actually detected lumps that were later identified as cancerous in their breasts because of their regular breast self exams, and that they would never have found them on their own earlier had it not been for their early education on the importance of these exams. In the end, it’s a personal decision.Â
