Quite often by using self examination of the breasts women detect the presence of one or more nodules, which makes them panic as they think only of breast cancer. Doctors say women should not thing of what is worse first, as statistics say most of the nodules turn out to be benign after a deep investigation. In case you did not know any benign entity is not cancerous.

Some of the nodules can have a soft consistency, are mobile, not adherent to the nearby tissues, are perfectly round and smooth and don’t have a certain size. They can be painful quite often. The reason these nodules appear is the hormonal change that takes place in the woman’s body. This type of nodules can turn out to be cysts or a small bag that contains liquid.

So, you might say, what can we do in this case? Well, the doctor will mostly want to perform a breast ECO (to see if the nodule is solid or if it contains liquid) and sometimes a biopsy of that nodule for further tests.

Statistics say that the use of contraceptives can reduce the frequency of breast nodules appearance.

Sometimes the breast nodule can have a hard consistency and besides being mobile it can not cause pain when being palpated. This type of nodule is too caused by hormonal unbalances and the breast ECO can show its nature: a benign entity or a breast fibroadenoma. Doctors will want to keep this type of nodule under observation and see if it will retract by itself, but when its size is considerable they will mostly recommend surgery, to extract it.

Another type of nodule that can occur in breasts is a hard nodule, that does not have a regular surface, is not necessarily round and it is adherent to the nearby tissues. This can be a cancerous nodule and only further tests like the breast ECO, the mammogram and the biopsy can tell the doctor and the patient the truth.

Another breast modification that can make a woman panic is the breast swelling. Hormones play an important part in this case too, but sometimes two more serious affections than hormonal imbalance, can lead to the swelling of one breast: mastitis and breast abscess. Mastitis occurs most often in women who are breast feeding. It is an inflammation of the breast, associated more or less with a breast infection. The mother will have the following symptoms: fever, breast discomfort, breast swelling, even lumps in breast ducts. The causes of mastitis can be a breast bacterial infection, cracked nipples, an oversupply of the breast with milk, and blocked breast ducts. The usual treatment for mastitis is an antibiotic, like penicillin or erythromycin and analgesics.

The breast abscess gives mostly the same symptoms as mastitis and is caused by mastitis itself. The treatment consists in antibiotics, surgical abscess drainage, breast support and bandaging.