Breast self-examination can save a woman's life. Many women fear finding a breast lump and therefore avoid checking their breasts; this neglect can prove to be dangerous. It may allow cancer to go undetected and spread outside the local breast tissue, thus lessening a woman's chance of cure and long-term survival. Periodic breast examinations are important to the early detection of breast cancer, which ranks second to lung cancer as the most frequent cause of cancer death in women.
Excerpted from A Woman's Decision, this booklet is a reliable source of information on breast self-examination that has been reprinted in Cosmopolitan magazine. It is popular with doctors and patients alike because of its clear, yet detailed instructions on this vital health examination.