How to examine your breasts

How to examine your breasts

· Lie down and place your right arm behind your head. The exam is done while lying
down, not standing up. This is because when lying down the breast tissue spreads
evenly over the chest wall and is as thin as possible, making it much easier to feel all
the breast tissue.
· Use the finger pads of the 3 middle fingers on your left hand to feel for lumps in the
right breast. Use overlapping dime-sized circular motions of the finger pads to feel
the breast tissue.

· Use 3 different levels of pressure to feel all the breast tissue. Light pressure is needed
to feel the tissue closest to the skin; medium pressure to feel a little deeper; and firm
pressure to feel the tissue closest to the chest and ribs. It is normal to feel a firm ridge
in the lower curve of each breast, but you should tell your doctor if you feel anything
else out of the ordinary. If you're not sure how hard to press, talk with your doctor or
nurse. Use each pressure level to feel the breast tissue before moving on to the next
spot.
· Move around the breast in an up and down pattern starting at an imaginary line drawn
straight down your side from the underarm and moving across the breast to the
middle of the chest bone (sternum or breastbone). Be sure to check the entire breast
area going down until you feel only ribs and up to the neck or collar bone (clavicle).

· There is some evidence to suggest that the up-and-down pattern (sometimes called the
vertical pattern) is the most effective pattern for covering the entire breast, without
missing any breast tissue.
· Repeat the exam on your left breast, putting your left arm behind your head and using
the finger pads of your right hand to do the exam.
· While standing in front of a mirror with your hands pressing firmly down on your
hips, look at your breasts for any changes of size, shape, contour, or dimpling, or
redness or scaliness of the nipple or breast skin. (The pressing down on the hips
position contracts the chest wall muscles and enhances any breast changes.)
· Examine each underarm while sitting up or standing and with your arm only slightly
raised so you can easily feel in this area. Raising your arm straight up tightens the
tissue in this area and makes it harder to examine.
This procedure for doing breast self exam is different from previous recommendations.
These changes represent an extensive review of the medical literature and input from an
expert advisory group. There is evidence that this position (lying down), the area felt,

pattern of coverage of the breast, and use of different amounts of pressure increase a
woman's ability to find abnormal areas.