Breast Self examination is considered for women at risk of breast cancer and for all women over 20 years old.
1-stand in front a mirror straight your shoulder on your sides and look at your breasts. Look for the size, shape and color of your breasts.The changes that need to visit your doctor are bulging of the skin, rash, puckering and dimpling of breast. About nipple there may be inverted nipple, abnormal position of nipple soreness ,redness, rash or swelling of the nipple.
2-in this step you should rise your arms and look for the same changes that you looked for when your arms were straight in first step.
3-In this step you concentrate on the nipple for any coming out fluids. May be one nipple that discharges fluid or both and the fluid may be watery ,milky yellow or even blood.
4-this step is different from other position and mode of examination. Position in this step is lying down and examination is by feeling not by looking or observing. Use your right hand for left breast and left hand for right breast. Feel gently by using few fingers pads by a circular motion ,check four quadrants of breast plus nipple area. By this way you should not miss any part of breast it means you have to feel the all areas separately, from top to bottom and from side to side.to be sure that you didn’t miss any part use a pattern that is easy for you for example start circular palpation from nipple then slowly increase the radius of this circle until you reach the outer edge of your breast. also another way is to move your fingers vertically from top to bottom in rows. Make sure that you feel whole thickness of your breast from the skin till deep part of breast, use only light pressure for skin and tissues that are under skin directly, for middle tissues use a medium pressure, and eventually firm pressure for deeper tissues. Deep tissues mean when you are feeling the ribs under your breasts.
5-In this step you should change your position from lying down to standing or sitting , then repeat the same examinations as step four.
