About one out of eight American women develop breast cancer at some point in her life. Even faced with such scary statistics, doctors still find it hard to say what exactly causes cancer in a person, how and why it starts.
In many cases, the prognosis is optimistic, but the key factor is to diagnose the disease as early as possible in its evolution. There are many symptoms that can signal an alarm but even so, a breast cancer symptom that is scarily easy to miss can go unnoticed for a long while, until other symptoms appear and the cancer is in a more advanced state.
According to undergoing research, the American Cancer Society has launched an estimate of women who will probably be diagnosed with breast cancer at some point throughout this year and the prognosis is terrifying: 246,660 women. With these numbers, more and more women are trying to get diagnosed as early in the evolution of their cancer as possible.
So what are the signs of breast cancer and how to we diagnose it? This is something that every single woman out there should know, so keep reading!
The first basic step every woman should take, whether they have a family history of cancer or not, is to go to periodic check-ups, go to the gynecologist for a breast exam and a mammogram. The most common sign of breast cancer is an irregular or strange bump or lump, but even so this can be a breast cancer symptom that is scarily easy to miss. These are also not the only signs; at least this was the case of an Australian woman, whose posts became viral on Facebook, after she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
Kylie Armstrong, an Australian woman, made an incredible thing by sharing her story on social media and managing to catch women’s attention from all over the world and raise awareness. Her cancer story started a while back, with a visit to her gynecologist.
Even though the medical exam turned out just fine, Kylie felt like something was off, and after seeing the photo she posted on Facebook, we surely understand why. What appeared to be some very subtle dimples on the bottom of one of her breasts was actually a breast cancer symptom that is scarily easy to miss and can usually go unnoticed, as a common abnormality of the breast.
Lucky for Kylie, her doctor listened to her, so they did an ultrasound and a mammogram. These showed the result everyone was scared of – the ultrasound discovered cancer cells close to the breast’s muscle.
The dimple that Kylie’s breast presented is not a common sign of cancer; it’s more of a sign of pulling, but as it turns out it can also be a warning sign for cancer if the cancer cells alter the skin’s architecture. So, ladies, dimples can be a sign of cancer, sometimes the only sign, so if there’s something slightly unusual with your breasts, go have it checked and re-checked.
Brave Kylie Armstrong remained positive as she has undergone surgery and is now recovering, getting ready for further treatment. Hopefully her story will make women worldwide more aware of breast cancer.
Sourced from: sheknows
Photo: Thinkstock/AtnoYdur