Breast Wars

For as long as I have had breasts, and that is a really long time, there has been changing advice about how to keep them healthy. I am talking about catching breast cancer. In the early days I was told to do self-breast exams once a month. Exactly what I was feeling for was never really explained, just to be on the “feel” for anything unusual.

Now most woman who have anything more than an A cup will tell you that breast tissue changes during a given month and over the years. Since I have never felt an actual breast lump I was always unsure what exactly it was that I was searching for.

I was perfectly happy to have my GYN do a breast exam and tell me that everything was “normal.” That was reassuring to know that sagging and soft was normal. Then came the mammogram era where we had a machine to squish and squeeze us in order to get a good picture and actually “see” inside. But we were told to keep doing self-exams all the same since we only had a mammogram once a year and something could develop between photo shoots.

A couple years ago some “breast authority” deemed it unnecessary to have a mammogram every year and not to start at 35 but wait until 40. Then today the “breast authorities” moved back the start year for mammograms from 40 to 45. The “data” shows no more risk in starting then. It sounds an awful lot like the insurance companies don’t want to pay for mammograms and they are willing to risk the few women who will get missed by waiting.

The real news that came from the “breast authorizes” today is that they are advising doctors not to do physical breast exams any more since the “data” shows they don’t really work. My big question is what about my self-examination? If I am no longer being felt up by a professional who knows what they are feeling for should I continue my amateur search?

I have friends who say they discovered their breast cancer themselves when they felt a lump so I guess that when something feels different you know it, so why should we stop letting doctor, PA’s and nurses do the feeling? I am sure plenty of women are not very religious in doing their self examinations so a once a year little rubbing seems like the least we could so especially since you may not be getting a mammogram anytime soon.

I am all for trying to cut the fat out of medicine, but it feels like not getting felt up is not going to save that much money and it will take a few years for the “data” to show it was a bad idea to cut back on manual exams and mammograms. I am lucky that I have an older doctor who is probably not going to change no matter what the fashion in recommendations is, but someday he will retire and then what will happen? I guess I am going to have to look for someone else to keep my breasts safe because I just don’t know who these “breast authorities” are.