Do We Breast Self Exam Or Not?

Thursday

Do We Breast Self Exam Or Not?

     Some health professionals are backing off on encouraging woman to do breast self exams, and they're going even further than that by saying they are not endorsing doctors doing manual breast exams either. I find this suspicious because while they are saying they don't recommend it, they are not saying to stop doing it. What they are saying is if you feel comfortable you can do it, and if you notice any changes you should report it to your doctor.

     This is my take on the rewording of the topic, they say that the reason they are not recommending it is that both woman and doctors are finding lumps and having them biopsied and most of them turn out to be nothing, or benign.
It is also noted by a health professional that 50% to 65% of breast cancers are discovered in this way.

     Ask yourself who stands to lose money by having biopsies done that turn out to be benign? Who would consider those a waste of time and money? How about Insurance Companies? Since about only half of the lumps found end up to be cancerous they've wasted their money by doing the other half that are not. Therefore tough luck if you find a lump, you've got a 50/50 chance of it being nothing.

     Now I could always be wrong, but money is always the bottom line when it's not your breast that has the lump. I wouldn't be at all surprised if the Insurance company lobbyists put some kind of pressure on these trusted health organizations, The American Cancer Society and the National Cancer Institute.