When speaking or thinking about breast cancer, most people think of women. However, breast cancer can and does affect men.
Breast cancer in men is rare, but not impossible. A typical man has a less than one percent chance of getting breast cancer, but for that less than one percent, the chances of mortality is higher. In 2019, it is estimated that about 2,760 men were diagnosed with breast cancer. Of those 2,760 men, about 500 have died.
Possibly due to biological and life style differences, as well as compliance with treatment, men's mortality will be higher.
However, breast cancer may be easier to detect in men, due to the lack of breast tissue. The smaller amount of breast tissue can aid in detecting lumps. Unfortunately, less breast tissue can make it easier for cancer to spread to the skin covering the breast, the nipple, and the muscles under the breast. These factors can lead to a worse outcome.
In spite of easier detection of breast cancer in men, the disparity in awareness of physical symptoms experienced by men and general knowledge of breast cancer in men leads to a delay between awareness of symptoms and diagnosis.
Due to breast cancer being primarily viewed as a "women's illness," there tends to be a stigma surrounding men being diagnosed with breast cancer. This stigma can cause a crisis for men in terms of their sense of masculinity, their sexuality, and body image.
What is important to know is this:
- Men who have mutations in the BRCA gene may have an increased risk in breast cancer.
- Men who have family members who have had breast cancer may have an increased risk.
- Symptoms of breast cancer in men are not very different from symptoms of breast cancer in women: Lumps in breasts, dimpled/puckered skin, scaly red nipple or skin, or fluid discharge.
Thank you to Get Healthy Stay Healthy for this information.