Breast Cancer Symptoms

The most common symptom of breast cancer is a lump in the breast or chest area that is not normally there. Many healthy breasts are lumpy, and most lumps are not cancerous. In fact, 80% of breast lumps that are biopsied are not cancer—they are benign.

But you can’t tell whether a lump is cancer by the way it feels to you. Cancerous lumps have some features that make them feel different than non-cancerous lumps, but how they feel can differ from person to person. If you find a lump that is new or feels different to you, or feel thickening of the breast, you should be checked out by a healthcare provider right away.

Breast cancer can spread to the lymph nodes in the armpit or around the collar bone, so swollen lymph nodes or new lumps in those areas should also be checked by a healthcare provider.

Other possible signs of breast cancer can be:

• swelling of all or part of the breast;
• redness of the skin of the breast;
• eczema of the nipple;
• dimpling of the skin;
• the nipple turning inward;
• nipple discharge other than breast milk;
• breast pain.

These symptoms can be caused by something other than cancer. For example, the most common cause of breast pain is changes in hormone levels caused by the menstrual cycle. Even though most of the time these symptoms do not indicate breast cancer, there is no way to be sure without getting it checked.

If you have concerns about any of these or other symptoms or changes, please be sure to talk with your healthcare provider. Then if it’s cancer, you can start a treatment plan. If it isn’t, you can stop worrying.