Breast Cancer

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women the UK with one woman diagnosed every 10 minutes. Around 55,000 women and 370 men are diagnosed with breast cancer every year in the UK. In England, every year around 46,000 people are diagnosed with breast cancer.

From the aged of 50, you will be called up every 3 years for a mammogram. This is an X-ray of your breasts, which shows whether there are any small denser areas that shouldn’t be there. It would show a breast cancer long before you could feel it from the outside, which is fantastic, as cancers caught early are often curable.

Mammograms are uncomfortable- your breasts will feel squashed and sore, but by attending you are preventing bigger problems later on.

Breast cancer can also happen in younger women. Unfortunately mammograms are not helpful in younger women, as before the menopause, your breast is so dense anyway due to the glandular tissue that produces breastmilk, it would be impossible to tell between bad dense areas and normal dense areas. For this reason it is SO IMPORTANT that young women get to know their breasts and check them regularly!

Here are things to look out for…