Breast Cancer Symptons

Breast cancer often causes no symptoms in its early stages. Women with early breast cancer usually do not feel pain or experience any symptoms at all. Screening tests are better able to detect the disease at this time. As the cancer grows, however, it can cause the following changes.

- A lump or thickening in or near your breast or under your arm
- A change in the size or shape of your breast
- Nipple discharge, tenderness, or inversion, meaning the nipple pulls back into your breast
- A change in the way the skin of your breast, areola, or nipple looks or feels. (For example, the skin may look like the skin of an orange.)

These symptoms may be caused by breast cancer or by other, less serious conditions. It’s important to check with a doctor to be sure.

Remember the best treatment for breast cancer is checking for symptons early and getting medical attention.

Breast Cancer Surgery Picture

A picture of a a breast after a breast cancer surgery.


Breast Cancer Surgery
Surgery is the most common treatment for breast cancer. There are several types of breast cancer surgery. Your doctor or physician can explain each type, discuss and compare the benefits and risks, and describe how each will change the way you look:

Breast-sparing surgery: An operation to remove the cancer but not the breast is breast-sparing surgery. It is also called breast-conserving surgery, lumpectomy, segmental mastectomy, and partial mastectomy. Sometimes an excisional biopsy serves as a lumpectomy because the surgeon removes the whole lump.

The surgeon often removes the underarm lymph nodes as well. A separate incision is made. This procedure is called an axillary lymph node dissection. It shows whether cancer cells have entered the lymphatic system.

After breast-sparing surgery, most women receive radiation therapy to the breast. This treatment destroys cancer cells that may remain in the breast.

Mastectomy: An operation to remove the breast (or as much of the breast tissue as possible) is a mastectomy. In most cases, the surgeon also removes lymph nodes under the arm. Some women have radiation therapy after surgery.

Stay tuned for upcoming other breast cancer treatment alternatives and information.