For men with breast cancer, there can definitely be a feeling of being totally alone as one of the few unlucky men who get the disease, which is mostly confined to the female of the human species.  The reason for that is mostly because of biological makeup, and simply because women’s hormones are often the cause of getting breast cancer, and simply because women have more of a ” breast” than men do, so it is a mass of flesh that is of course going to be more susceptible to disease than a man’s breast, which does not have nearly as much flesh and may not harbor disease as readily.

Less than 500 men die a year of breast cancer, but to be honest, this is much more than I expected as a woman, because if 500 died, than how many more are actually diagnosed with breast cancer, and also how many more have it and are not yet diagnosed?  Male breast cancer often begins with the same warning signs as female cancer, but because it is less likely and less suspect in men, it can go undiagnosed, or not looked into for too long and may reach more advanced stages more readily than it might in a women, who is pretty much trained these days to look out for warning signs of breast cancer, such as painful nipple discharge, lumps in the breast, sudden pain in the breasts, and other common warning signs of breast cancer.  They also receive mammographies, whereas a man would not. 

Breast cancer has been said to be about one hundred times more likely in women than it is in men, so the reasoning is there as to why it is looked at under an intense microscope for women, especially women who are in the menopausal years and women who have reached the age of 40, since certain hormone changes make breast cancer more likely.

Doctors say that male breast cancer may be a higher risk if it runs in the family, just like it is for female breast cancer, so a man that is diagnosed with male breast cancer would want to warn his other family member, especially sons born to him, of the increased risk.  Treatment for breast cancer in men is treated much the same as it is with women. 

Many times a lumpectomy may be performed, or for other cases, radiation therapy, surgery, or hormone therapy may be administered, as well as chemotherapy (see previous story about how chemo is now thought to be useless for as many as 50% of breast cancer patients now – scary).   

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Posted in Breast Cancer Prevention by Breast News Girl No Comments Yet