Breast Cancer: Symptoms, Risk Factors and Getting a Mammogram

Apart from skin cancer, breast cancer is the most common cancer among American women. Each year in the United States about 270,000 women get breast cancer and 42,000 die of it. Men get it too, though rarely: about 1 in every 100 breast cancers diagnosed in the United States is in a man.

Why it matters to know the symptoms of breast cancer and how your breasts normally look and feel. CDC, Bring Your Brave.

Mammograms

For many women, a mammogram is the best way to find breast cancer early, when it is easier to treat; it can find a cancer before it is big enough to feel or cause symptoms. Ask a doctor when to start having them.

Cost. CDC's National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program offers free or low-cost mammograms to women with low incomes who are uninsured or underinsured. Check whether you qualify.

Symptoms

Symptoms vary, and some people have none. They can include:

• any change in the size or shape of a breast;
• pain in any part of the breast;
• nipple discharge other than breast milk, including blood;
• a new lump in the breast or underarm.

Knowing how your breasts normally look and feel makes changes easier to notice. See a doctor right away about any sign that worries you.

Risk factors

• Being a woman.
• Getting older. Most breast cancers are found in women 50 or older, though younger women get it too.
• Changes in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes. Some breast and ovarian cancers are caused by genetic changes passed down in families.

Lowering your risk

• Keep a healthy weight and be physically active.
• Don't drink alcohol, or drink in moderation.
• If you take hormone replacement therapy or birth control pills, ask a doctor about the risks.
• Breastfeed your children, if you can.

More from CDC

• A video on what dense breasts are and why they matter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=504mCaNo7hE
• Talk to Someone: Triple-Negative Breast Cancer, an interactive conversation with a virtual survivor: https://simulations.kognito.com/tnbc/
• The Bring Your Brave campaign, with stories of young women affected by breast cancer: https://www.cdc.gov/bring-your-brave/index.html

Sources

• CDC, "Breast Cancer Awareness": https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/features/breast-cancer.html
• CDC breast cancer pages on symptoms, risk factors and prevention: https://www.cdc.gov/breast-cancer/about/index.html
• The film is the agency's own low-resolution copy, recovered from the Internet Archive's record of cdc.gov.