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Cathy Cole: It’s not always going to be a lump. That’s a very important thing. We
tend to focus on that because it’s something we can feel but the inspection part of the
breast and knowing that there are changes, if your nipples always avert or stick out
and all of a sudden one is being pulled in, that’s a change. If you have a redness to
your breast, a fullness, or swelling to a breast, one side particularly than another
– this is a warning sign. If you are doing the breast exam and you feel something under
your arm in the armpit region, as not on that exactly the breast tissue but you do feel
a lump there, that should not be ignored either.
So we are really looking for skin changes, *** changes and the potential for a lump,
but don’t focus on just a lump. There would be important changes to look for during the
inspection phase.
Dr. Jay Harness: Yeah, and another thing and spot on, another thing is the *** suddenly
start to feel heavier or starts to turn fire engine red or the skin of the breast looks
like an orange peel, yes that could be from an infection but it also could be from inflammatory
breast cancer.
And even some cases of locally advanced breast cancer, particularly in large breasted women,
can present with those findings first before we feel a distinct lump. So the answer to
the question is yes, you can have breast cancer, not feel a lump and that’s particularly
true in the in-situ breast cancer. Still confined inside the ductal system where we want to
know about those as well. So that was a great question.