Breast health knowledge

More than 90% of breast discomforts are not related to cancer. There is no need to stay up all night with the physical examination report; you don’t need to spend a lot of money to buy essential oils, massagers, and breast enhancement creams for daily care. Wearing the right underwear and regular self-examination + standardized physical examination are the most cost-effective protection; no ordinary food can achieve the effects of "breast enlargement" and "breast relief", so don't pay the IQ tax randomly.

I just told this to Xiao Zhou, a 28-year-old girl who came to the clinic last week. In order to eliminate the grade 2 nodules found during physical examination, she went to the beauty salon for half a month to undergo "breast dredging." Oh, yes, that doesn’t mean that all breast massages are useless. If you have breast congestion during lactation, asking a medical staff from a regular hospital to perform a breast massage can indeed help to clear the accumulated milk and relieve the pain of breast congestion. It is not the same thing as the kind of massage in a beauty salon that blindly exerts pressure on the glands and rubs the body with unknown essential oils.

Many people feel weak in the legs when they hear "hyperplasia" and "nodule". In fact, it is completely unnecessary. You can imagine the breast gland as a bunch of grapes in a soft bag. Each grape is a mammary gland lobule. Every time before the aunt's visit, the hormone level rises, the grapes will absorb water and swell, making the bag a little painful. This is what everyone often calls physiological hyperplasia. After the aunt is gone, the hormones will drop, the grapes will shrink back, and the pain will naturally disappear. It is not considered a disease at all. But it doesn’t mean that everyone shouldn’t worry about it at all. If you feel a single, hard lump on your chest, it feels like a pebble, it doesn’t hurt when you press it, and you can’t push it. It doesn’t matter whether you are pregnant or not, then don’t delay and go to the hospital for a checkup.

There is also the rumor that "wearing underwired bras can cause cancer" has been rumored for many years. It is purely a rumor. Cancer is the result of genes, hormones, and living habits. It has nothing to do with the pressure of underwired bras. But if the underwire bra you are wearing makes your chest hurt as soon as you put it on, and there is a red mark under your breast when you take it off after get off work, then there is really no need to suffer this. Comfort is the first criterion for choosing underwear. Oh, by the way, don’t believe that any adjustable bra can shrink accessory breasts. Accessory breasts are essentially small breast tissue that has not degenerated cleanly. It’s weird that they can be squeezed back. Two years ago, my best friend spent more than 300 yuan to buy an adjustable bra that is said to “retract accessory breasts in seconds.” After wearing it for two months, it was so tight that I had to take a deep breath. The accessory breasts stayed there, but I developed contact dermatitis under the breasts. It was not worth the loss.

As for the screening method that everyone is most concerned about, don’t listen to the various suggestions on the Internet. Girls under the age of 35 have relatively dense breast tissue, and a breast B-ultrasound once a year is enough. Don’t ask for a mammography. The pinching is painful, and the dense breasts cannot be seen clearly on a photo. It is a waste of time. Women over 40 years old can have a B-ultrasound every year and a mammography every 1-2 years. Of course, the guideline recommendations in different countries also vary. Some recommend starting mammography screening after the age of 45. If you have a family history of breast cancer, you can discuss with your attending doctor to adjust the screening frequency that suits you.

Many people also ask whether eating papaya can enlarge breasts, and whether drinking soy milk will cause breast cancer due to too much estrogen. First of all, the papain in papaya is completely decomposed by gastric acid as soon as it enters the stomach. It cannot reach the breast glands to play its role. If you want to rely on papaya to enlarge your breasts, it is better to eat two more bites of braised pork to gain some fat. As for the soy isoflavones in soy milk, which are phytoestrogens, they are a "good guy". If the estrogen in your body is high, it will help you lower it a little, and if it is low, it will help you supplement it. Drinking a cup of soy milk every day is absolutely fine. On the contrary, many studies have shown that long-term consumption of soy products can also reduce the risk of breast cancer.

In fact, breasts are really not as delicate as everyone thinks. There is no need to arrange so many fancy care items for them. Don’t press them randomly, don’t patch them up randomly, and don’t scare yourself with a little abnormality. It’s normal for them to have a little mood occasionally (such as aunt’s swelling and pain in the front). If you are really unsure, ask a breast doctor in a regular hospital. It will be more reliable than watching ten short videos or listening to ten sales pitches from beauty salons.