Breast health care knowledge

90% of female breast discomfort (pain, small movable lumps, premenstrual sensitivity) are related to hormone fluctuations and lifestyle habits. Real malignant lesions account for less than 1%. The core of breast care has never been the thousands of breast massages or Internet celebrity breast enhancement products, but "regular screening + avoidance of clear harmful factors + stable physical and mental state." Don't mess around, it is the best care for it.

To be honest, the first pitfall that everyone falls into now is the "breast care" program in beauty salons. There are indeed different opinions on this topic in the industry: Some schools of traditional Chinese medicine believe that using very gentle techniques to massage along the breast ducts can relieve premenstrual swelling and pain and help to dredge lymph nodes.； However, the general clinical advice of Western medicine is that as long as you have been found to have breast nodules, fibroids, or ductal dilation, or you are not sure whether there are any abnormalities in your breasts, you should never go to a beauty salon for massage, especially one that massages you vigorously and applies unknown "breast enhancement essence" to you. When I was an intern in the Breast Department of a tertiary hospital, I met a 32-year-old middle school teacher. A 1cm breast fibroma was found during a physical examination at the work unit. The beauty salon said that it can be eliminated by pressing it. She went there twice a week for half a year, and after a review, it had grown to 3cm, so she could only have surgery to remove it. The pathology was benign, but she received a knife for nothing, which was really unnecessary.

Oh, by the way, what is 10,000 times more effective than buying skin care products blindly is regular screening. There are indeed differences in the guidelines in different countries, so there is no need to impose strict standards: our Chinese Anti-Cancer Association’s recommendation is that healthy women under 40 years old should have a breast ultrasound once a year, and those over 40 years old should have a mammography once a year.； High-risk groups with a family history of breast cancer, menstruation before the age of 13, menopause after the age of 55, or previous chest radiation therapy can start annual screening as early as age 30. ； The American Cancer Society recommends that people at average risk should start mammography screening after the age of 45. Everyone should choose based on their own situation and the advice of their doctor.

Don’t be too uncomfortable when wearing underwear. I have seen many girls wear underwired tight underwear for a day in order to make their breasts appear firmer. When they take it off after get off work, there will be red marks on their chests. Long-term underwear will affect lymph and blood circulation. It is already prone to swelling and pain before menstruation, and now it is even worse. When you are at home or not going out on weekends, you don’t have to wear underwear. You can make it comfortable as you like. There is no saying that “not wearing underwear will cause sagging”. The core influencing factors of sagging are age, gravity and pregnancy and breastfeeding. It really has nothing to do with whether you wear underwear or not.

Many people also ask whether soy milk can be drunk and honey can be eaten. To put it bluntly, drinking soy milk normally (300-500ml per day, which is about one to two cups) and eating honey occasionally will not stimulate the breast glands at all. The phytoestrogens in soy milk are soy isoflavones, which are not the same thing as human estrogen. Instead, they can help regulate estrogen levels in the body. Only if you drink three to four liters at a time or take high-dose soy isoflavone supplements for a long time will it have an impact. On the contrary, Internet celebrity products, whether they are sugar, pills or essential oils, that are marketed as "breast enlargement" or "endocrine regulation" are really pitfalls that you should avoid. Two months ago, I met a 21-year-old college student who took Internet celebrity breast enhancement candy for three months and was diagnosed with breast hyperplasia BI-RADS level 3. My aunt delayed her visit for half a month and stopped taking the medicine for half a year before she returned to normal.

There is another point that many people do not take seriously: the impact of emotions and daily routine on breasts is much greater than you think. I have a friend who is a surgical nurse. She had to stay up late for two weeks during a major examination in the department last month. She had to communicate with the uncooperative family members of the patients every day. She was so angry that she had chest pains several times after get off work. Three small nodules of 2-3 mm were found during physical examination. She also knew that she was tired. She applied to be transferred to the day shift for half a month, and went to the park to walk her dog after get off work. She didn't stay up late and didn't get angry blindly. After three months of follow-up examination, two nodules had disappeared, and the remaining one was half the size. To be honest, breasts are our emotional barometer. They remember all the breath you hold and the nights you stay up.

In fact, breast care really doesn’t have to be so fancy. You don’t have to listen to people selling anxiety about “if you don’t take care of it, you will get cancer.” As long as you have regular screenings every year, don’t blindly use unknown products, don’t blindly massage vigorously, be less sulky, stay up late, and do whatever makes you feel comfortable, it will basically not cause you any trouble. If you really feel a hard lump, or have abnormalities such as nipple discharge or skin dimpling, go directly to the breast department of a regular hospital to register. Don't blindly search Baidu and don't believe what the beauty salon says. It's better than anything else.