We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: there’s nothing quite as scary as cancer. Breast cancer can be particularly frightening because it feels like a secret intruder is threatening your body. Making things worse is that there are only so many ways to check for this issue before it becomes a life-threatening problem. You may be unaware of how to prevent this cancer from developing, aside from checking your breasts for lumps.
That’s the bad news. The good news is that everybody has a secret weapon when it comes to detecting breast cancer: their skin! Once you realize how many ways your skin tries to warn you about breast cancer, you can keep yourself that much safer. Ready to protect your body while giving yourself peace of mind? Keep reading to discover the surprising ways your skin warns you about breast cancer!
Your skin is a secret cancer detector
Before we get into how your skin warns you about cancer, we need to answer a more fundamental question: just how the heck did the outside of your body become a secret cancer detector, anyway? The short answer is that cancer can cause many symptoms, some of which are more visually obvious than others. Most people know that cancer can lead to hair loss, but that’s actually a side effect of treatment, not the disease itself. But even before treatment, cancer can cause major changes to your skin that you should pay attention to.
Why should you pay close attention to these changes? For one thing, they improve your chances of living a long and healthy life because cancer is like any other major illness: the sooner it is diagnosed, the better! For another thing, the skin has a surprisingly solid track record of helping people detect cancer. In fact, about 10 percent of breast cancer survivors received their diagnosis after visible changes appeared on their skin!
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Understanding your skin’s signs of breast cancer
Now that we’ve established the importance of paying attention to your skin, we need to address the crucial question: how does your skin attempt to alert you to breast cancer? According to the National Cancer Institute, symptoms of breast cancer usually affect just one breast. And those symptoms can include discoloration, swelling, and warmth. It can also include more noticeable signs, including developing a rash that won’t go away and developing skin with the appearance and even the texture of an orange peel.
It’s important to note that you may experience some of these symptoms without experiencing much pain. Oftentimes, women dismiss potential symptoms of breast cancer because they otherwise feel fine. But none of the symptoms above simply happen on their own, and if they happen to you, it’s worth seeking out a professional cancer diagnosis from your doctor.
Recognizing inflammatory breast cancer
What you may not already know is that there are different types of breast cancer. One type that most are unaware of is inflammatory breast cancer, which is more likely to spread among young people in general and Black women in particular. Up to five percent of breast cancer cases are inflammatory, and it’s important to diagnose this disease as soon as possible. That’s because inflammatory breast cancer is especially aggressive, spreading much faster than other forms of breast cancer.
If that’s not bad enough, this type of breast cancer is difficult to self-diagnose because it doesn’t always result in a lump. Therefore, even if you’re checking for lumps every day, you might not notice this inflammatory cancer. Fortunately, there’s a silver lining: the symptoms listed above are particularly noticeable in this scenario because the inflamed skin makes it easier to notice unexpected changes.
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Even therapy can change your skin
We have focused primarily on the different ways that your skin may change when you are suffering from breast cancer. These can serve as early warning signs, helping you get a cancer diagnosis in time to get the treatment that you need. For many women, this can serve as something of a cold comfort. Nobody likes the idea of their skin changing color, changing texture, or blossoming into a painful rash. But the idea that these annoying, potentially painful changes can help save your life may make them ultimately worthwhile.
With that in mind, it’s important to know that your body will continue to change as you fight cancer. Once you begin treatment, you will face additional changes to your appearance. For example, radiation can make it look and feel like you have a sunburn, and it can similarly cause your skin to swell, darken, or itch. And, of course, treatment may affect the appearance of your hair and nails.
During all of this, one idea is very important to hold onto: you are absolutely beautiful just the way you are, and you owe it to yourself and everyone you know to fight for life in any and every way!