In honor of June’s International Men’s Health Month, here at Thermographic Diagnostic Imaging, we’d like to take some time to raise awareness for breast cancer in men. While breast cancer in men occurs less frequently than breast cancer in women, men do still have breast tissue and therefore are susceptible to this disease. There are a number of steps any man can take to protect their breast tissue health and the first step is awareness.
A few things you should know about men’s breast cancer:
- Men have lower levels of female hormones and less developed breast ducts – where the cancer usually begins. This is why instance of male breast cancer is so low.
- This cancer is relatively rare but still presents itself with the same symptoms and abnormalities as it does in women. For example skin puckering, lumps, and breast/nipple pain.
- Treatment for men is based on what doctors and scientists have found to be successful in women. More research is needed in order to determine and ideal treatment specific to men.
- As of 2011 the American Cancer Society reported that of the almost 40,000 annual breast cancer deaths in the United States about 450 are men. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Cancer_Society)
- Doing an at home self breast exam regularly is a good way to monitor any changes in the breast tissue.
- Like female breast cancer, prevention and early detection are the best ways to combat this disease.
- Combinations of some of the same screening methods, including but not limited to, physical examination, thermography, ultrasound, and MRI that are used on women can also be used on men to aid in a diagnosis.
- Most conventional livestock farmers use a combination of growth hormones, drugs, feed supplements, and high grain diets to push their animals to grow faster, get bigger, and produce more milk and eggs per day. If one is eating conventional meat, milk, cheese, and eggs, you are ingesting a tremendous amount of estrogen. This estrogen is causing men to grow breasts, and therefore, increasing the rate of breast cancer in men.
Although this form of cancer is rare, it is always good to talk with your primary care provider about breast cancer awareness, breast cancer prevention, and breast cancer treatment. Having this discussion and arming yourself with the knowledge you need could mean the difference between early detection and late stage detection.
At Health Through Awareness, we are educating people about proper diet and lifestyle modifications for disease prevention. We have seen, from a Thermographic stand point, the tremendous effect proper eating habits have on breast health and overall health.
For more information about breast cancer awareness, breast cancer prevention, breast health, and breast thermography please visit our website here. Or to contact us to make an appointment please contact us here.
