5 Things You Must Stop Believing About Breast Cancer

Breast Cancer is one of those disease conditions that doesn’t get as much attention as it should in Nigeria. Statistically, one out of every eight women would be diagnosed with this condition with about 500, 000 deaths occurring from this condition alone in Africa. The hard truth however is that there’s a lot of myths and not much information available concerning breast cancer.

Here are five things you probably have heard about breast cancer that is false and the real truths concerning them.

Breast Cancer Concerns Women Only
If you’ve ever believed that only women get breast cancer, you’re completely wrong. Men too can get breast cancer even though the chances of it occurring in men is 100 times lesser than in women. Diagnoses of breast cancer in men occurs very late and as such results in increased mortality. For men, the lifetime risk of getting breast cancer is about 1 in 1,000. Diagnoses usually come at a later stage for men, leading to significantly increased mortality rates. According to Sharon Gordano, M.D., and Fatima Cardoso, M.D. Of the breast cancer research fund (BCRF), 92 percent of the tumours found in men that have breast cancer are caused by oestrogen and progesterone hormones which is naturally higher in women. However, breast cancer in women as a result of these hormones account for 70 percent of breast cancers in them.

Breast Cancer Occurs Only In The Elderly
This is another false myth that has held for long. A lot of young people below the age of 40 are prone to having breast cancer. Researchers are studying the link between heredity and breast cancer in hope of gaining knowledge on the type of risk factors that expose certain people to them. The risk factors include race, ethnicity and lifestyle changes.

All Breast Cancers Are The Same
Another myth. Breast cancer as a matter of fact is a culmination of several different diseases. Researchers just discovered the different types of breast cancer subtypes which includes Luminal A, Luminal B, HER2-positive, and Triple Negative. These subtypes can also be further classified into smaller subunits which have different response to treatment and progression rates and thus, create more individualised treatment regimens.

Breast Cancers Begin As Lumps
There are various factors that are used in diagnosing breast cancers asides the development of a Lump. These signs include irritation of the skin covering the breasts, inward inversion of the nipples, red or scaly skin surrounding the breasts and or any type of discharge asides breast milk from the breast.

Wire Bras or Deodorants Can Make You Have Breast Cancer
This is another myth that has been around for a while. According to a study published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers in 2014, there was no correlation between wearing wire-bras, the number of hours you had it on and an increased risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women. The National Cancer Institute also say no evidence exist that deodorants cause breast cancer.

Furthermore, exercise and diet have been found to reduce the risk of getting breast cancer even though there is little knowledge concerning how other environmental factors increase the risk of having the disease. Mammography and routine screenings are important in catching the condition early. These can be scheduled yearly even though it’s dependent on heredity factors.