Breast cancer awareness month: Stay vigilant, stay healthy

October marks breast cancer awareness month. Here’s what we need to know and do to prevent it

Picture this: According to a study by Globocon 2020, In India, every four minutes a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer. With some 1,78,000 new cases being diagnosed every year, the incidence of breast cancer has overtaken cervical cancer to become the most common cancer in Indian women.

What is more alarming is that it is being increasingly diagnosed at a younger age (a decade earlier) in India compared to the West. With 90,000 deaths per annum, tragically, a woman loses her life to breast cancer every eight minutes in the country. For every two women diagnosed with breast cancer, one dies of it.

Dr P Raghuram, director and consultant surgeon, KIMS - Ushalakshmi Centre for Breast Diseases, has been working to create awareness about the importance of early detection through several initiatives in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. He holds forth on a few myths and facts about the cancer:

It is a regular and repetitive monthly self-examination of the breast performed by a woman at the same time each month to a set method. Here are a few changes to look out for during BSE:

    * A change in size — one breast may have become noticeably larger or smaller

  * A  nipple has become inverted (pulled in) or changed its position or shape

    * A rash on or around the nipple