Breast Self Exam: What You Can Do To Optimize Your Breast Health
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Why Do BSE Anyway?

It can't be repeated enough that early detection is the best weapon we have against breast cancer. I'm concerned that many women have a fatalistic attitude about breast cancer because we've heard so much about the increasing incidence of breast cancer in women. Remember that the most likely reason for the increased incidence of breast cancer is that we are now so much better at diagnosing it-and diagnosing it early-than ever before. Death from breast cancer has actually decreased in women in the past decade. Still, 43,300 women will die this year of breast cancer. The American Cancer Society estimates that this number could decrease by a third-avoiding more than 14,000 premature deaths--if all women over age 50 had mammograms annually.

This having been said, it is true that there is no scientific evidence that doing regular BSE will prolong your life if you wind up being diagnosed with breast cancer and if you also have regular mammograms according to American Cancer Society guidelines (annually after age 40). But why not? They're free, they're easy, and they take less than ten minutes per month. . . . .and in conjunction with CBE and mammography, it's the best prevention we have so far.