Breast Cancer Symptoms

A new lump or mass is the most common sign of breast cancer.

Since mammograms for screening have become more common, the number of breast cancer cases discovered before symptoms occur has increased.

However, in some instances, the cancer can be missed on a mammogram, either due to error or to the fact that about 15 percent of breast cancers aren't visible on a mammogram (known as "mammographically occult cancer").

And many women, for a number of reasons, don't get mammograms as recommended.


Symptoms
Though most cases of breast cancer have no symptoms until they're discovered on a mammogram, the most common symptom of breast cancer is a new lump or mass.

Masses that are more likely to be cancerous are painless, hard, and immobile with irregular edges.

While the following signs and symptoms can be caused by conditions other than breast cancer, you should contact your doctor if you experience any of them:

Changes in the size or shape of the breast

• A lump or thickening in or near the breast, or in the underarm area
• Swelling of all or part of a breast (even if no lump is felt)
• Skin irritation on or around the breast
• Puckering in the skin of the breast, or dimpling that looks like the skin of an orange (called "peau d'orange")
• Breast or nipple pain
• Nipple that is turning inward
• Redness, scaliness, or thickening of the nipple, areola (dark area of skin around the nipple), or breast skin
• Nipple discharge that is not milk

Some breast cancers spread to lymph nodes under the arm or around the collarbone and cause a lump or swelling in those areas before a tumor in the breast tissue is large enough to be felt.

If you experience swollen lymph nodes, call your doctor right away.