Breast Cancer Advice Center

Breast Cancer?

What are some symptoms of breast cancer? How old do you have to be to be diagnosed? If you have tiny bumps near the nipple, is that a symptom?

Public Comments

1. Some symptoms are feeling a lump in the breast tissue that wasn't there before, swelling or dimpling in the breast when you lift your arms up above your head and some other signs that are classic of cancer are sudden weight loss, change in bowel habits, a sore that will not heal... etc... mostly though for breast cancer, it's the 2 that I mentioned first. Some women never even feel the lump, it is found with a mammogram.
   I have known of a gal who was 26 that was diagnosed with breast cancer, and I've known a woman who was 95 who diagnosed... so it can happen at many different ages. Tiny bumps near the nipple... well I've never heard that of being a symptom, I have bumps around my nipples, so I do not think that they are a symptom. If you have any other concerns, ask the dr when you see him next time.
2. no hon those are normal milk glands....breast cancer can happen at any age really but most common in women 38-60. A family history of cancer in general and cancer of the breast, smoking, not having children, and alcohol all increase risk as well as a high fat diet and lack of exercise, breast cancer usually is a lump that feels like a marble beneath the skin it will not move much, it can also be a knot under your armpit these are your axillary nodes. Nipple discharge indicates Piaget's disease another form of cancer. Breast cancer is highly treatable even in stage iii and iv. YOU need to worry less and meditate more....take care
3. Lumps in your breast, sore or unsore to touch, drainage from nipple can be normal if it is a milky
   color, I don't know about ages, but tiny bumps near the nipple is completely normal.
4. *Itchy* tiny bumps on the areola (the dark circle around the nipple) ARE one symptom of breast cancer. They can also be caused by about a hundred other things, though.
   
   Because I have pretty bad eczema, I paid no attention to the rash around my nipple until after I read the pathology report from my mastectomies, three or four years after the rash began. That rash was Paget's disease of the nipple (of the breast? I don't remember.)
   
   Paget's (there's a bone disease with his name, too, but they aren't related) is definitely a form of breast cancer.
   
   If you are concerned, you may ask your doctor - at ANY age - to do an exam, and, more important, show you how to do it. It'll only take a little while, and having the doc guide your hands helps more than all of the shower cards in the world.
   
   If you're too embarrassed to ask your regular doc, call Planned Parenthood and ask to see one of their docs.
   
   L.
   
   ***Edit*** After I wrote this, I did some more reading - it's been a few years. The bumps can be sores or flaky areas or other changes of the skin around the nipple. They may not itch or be very bothersome at all. Have all such skin changes checked by a doctor, especially if they are only on one nipple.
5. Over 200,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer every year1.
   
   One person is diagnosed with breast cancer every 3 minutes2.
   
   One person dies of breast cancer every 14 minutes2.
   
   People over the age of 50 account for 76% of breast cancer cases2.
   
   There is over a 97% five-year survival rate when localized breast cancer is caught before it spreads to other parts of the body2.