Signs and Symptoms of Breast Cancer

The earlier you detect and treat breast cancer, the more likely you are to recover fully and live a long, healthy life. This article will help you learn to recognize the signs and symptoms of breast cancer, so you can take action early if you suspect you may have breast cancer or a related disease.

Remember, early detection is the key to your health and your ability to recover from any type of cancer.

Signs & Symptoms
Knowing what the signs of breast cancer are may prove life saving. Women that catch breast cancer earlier can usually engage in less invasive treatment alternatives, ones that may save their lives. The earlier you treat cancer, the more likely you are to put it in a permanent state of remission.

Here are some common and uncommon signs and symptoms of breast cancer in women.

• An unusual lump or mass of tissue that develops in your breast spontaneously. It may or may not feel painful.
• Any discharge from your nipple, especially when accompanying a lump. The discharge may be a clear fluid or blood tinged. This is not the same as milk discharged from the nipple when a woman breastfeeds.
• An indentation in your nipple, or the tendency for your nipples to retract or fall back into the breast.
• Other indentation around or near the skin in your breast, or changes of the natural shape of your breast that you cannot explain away.
• Any warmth, redness or pocking of the skin. Some women with breast cancer notice the skin on their breast starts to take on the texture of an orange or cottage cheese, a phenomenon you might call pocking.

Please know this list is not all-inclusive. You may also have unexplained fevers, experience weight loss or excessive fatigue. Most lumps fortunately, are benign, meaning they do not carry cancer. However, your doctor will want to biopsy them to make sure. Some causes for lumps not associated with cancer include cysts and infection.