Horizontal Technique for Breast Exam

Video Transcript

"Monthly breast self examinations, should be an important part of your routine breast health regimen. Monthly, breast self examinations, will allow you to become more familiar with your breast tissue and thereby, enable you to detect abnormalities or changes in your breast tissue, sooner rather than later. The horizontal method, of breast self examination, is the most effective way to examine your breast. The supine positions allows breast tissue to fall flat and that is why most clinical examines are actually performed, in this position. When lying down, a woman places her right hand over her head to examine her right breast, she places a small pillow or towel, underneath her right shoulder blade to push the breast tissue further up, allowing the breast tissue to fall flat. When examining your breast, in a supine position, again, you use your left hand, the three middle fingers, the pads of the three middle fingers, and you proceed in a grid fashion to examine your breast tissue by pressing firmly and palpating the tissue, in a fashion, such as this. Make sure you're very very thorough, in the axillary area, this is where a lot of your lymph nodes are found and a lot of breast cancer diagnosis are found, in this upper outer quadrant area of the breast. To examine the axillary area, proceed in a grid fashion, as I said, down to the breast tissue, pressing firmly and continue up, to the collar bone and mid sternum area. The area is a large area, for a woman to examine, so typically you'd spend about five to ten minutes examining one breast. Proceed, after the axillary are, down to the breast tissue and again, using the pads of the fingers, you're checking for any lumps, that maybe hard or soft, rounded or uneven edges and you're also looking for any areas of soreness. If you detect any of these abnormalities, you want to consult with your physician immediately. Breast self examinations, for woman, should begin at age 20 and continue for the rest of her life. Breast tissue will change, during those years and a woman should be very familiar with the changes, in her breast."