Source: racgp.org.au<\/p>\n
Australia has one of the\u00a0best rates of breast cancer survival\u00a0in the world. It was from this concept that the \u2018Look, lift, feel\u2019 campaign was born. It is a phrase Associate Professor Warrier would like to see become as well known as SunSmart\u2019s iconic \u2018Slip, slop, slap\u2019.
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This is attributable in part to its breast cancer screening program, which has seen a\u00a0significant decrease\u00a0in the disease\u2019s mortality rates among targeted populations.
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Constant updates in cancer research, meanwhile, have led to growing awareness of factors that can impact risk, such as breast density and family history.
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However, breast oncology and oncoplastic surgeon, and President of Breast Surgeons of Australia and New Zealand, Associate Professor Sanjay Warrier, believes it is important to keep striving to improve even further.
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\u2018It\u2019s not that we\u2019re not doing things well, but can we do things better?\u2019 he told\u00a0newsGP<\/em>.
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Associate Professor Warrier is particularly concerned with women who fall outside the scope of current screening programs \u2013 namely women younger than 40, two of whom are\u00a0diagnosed with breast cancer\u00a0in Australia every day.
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\u2018Most Australians assume breast cancer is a problem that only older women face, but that assumption is incorrect,\u2019 Professor Warrier said.
When considering how best to address this issue, Associate Professor Warrier decided to focus on empowering young women, ideally\u00a0within the high school curriculum, to carry out their own breast examinations.
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\u2018It\u2019s almost like it\u2019s been a little bit of a taboo area,\u2019 he said. \u2018But the more informed [young women] are, the more empowered, relating to how to approach things moving forward.
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\u2018So having an idea of how to approach a breast exam at an earlier age, when they\u2019re potentially learning about other things like sex education, makes sense.\u2019<\/p>\n
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\u2018The idea is to have a campaign relating to assessing the breasts without it being overly cumbersome, in a way that\u2019s easy to remember,\u2019 he said.
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\u2018This is a process I would like to see become ingrained into the lives of women all over the world, from an early age. The earlier the detection, the better.\u2019
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Self-examination is especially important among young women for a number of reasons.
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\u2018Breast cancer in young women can be more dangerous than breast cancer in older women,\u2019 Associate Professor Warrier said.
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\u2018This is because young women\u2019s breast tissue is usually denser than the breast tissue of older women, meaning that lumps are harder to notice.
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\u2018Mammograms can be less effective for women under the age of 40 for this reason.\u2019
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Associate Professor Warrier sees GPs as central figures to the campaign, and to the process in general.
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\u2018It\u2019s got to start with the GP,\u2019 he said. \u2018GPs have always been the coalface for managing women\u2019s health, and that shouldn\u2019t change.
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\u2018[The campaign is about] empowering women to have an idea of how to self-examine, and encourage patients who notice changes to have a clinical assessment with a GP.\u2019
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The self-examination process delineated by \u2018Look, lift, feel\u2019, is recommended to take about five minutes and be carried out every three months.
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\u2018It\u2019s important to spend time just being aware of what things look like, before touching,\u2019 Associate Professor Warrier said.
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\u2018So the idea is to \u201clook\u201d and then \u201clift\u201d the arms up, focusing on the breasts, the nipples, and then areola.
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\u2018When you lift the arms, you\u2019re looking underneath the breasts as well, lifting the breasts with your contra-lateral arm when feeling.
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\u2018And then \u201cfeeling\u201d systematically, which can be done through three methods. One is a circular motion around the breasts; the other method is working down the breast which we call a vertical strip method, and the third is like a radial spoke where you start from the centre and work out, around the breast.\u2019
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Associate Professor Warrier wants the campaign to encourage women to become more attuned to their bodies, and aware of changes worthy of concern.
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\u2018One aim is to increase awareness around [breast cancer], but to reduce anxiety, as well, in that by just being more aware of your body, you\u2019ll be aware of what\u2019s normal,\u2019 he said.
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\u2018But, importantly, it\u2019s to pick up patients that would tend to dismiss changes within the breasts, while reiterating that the majority of those are benign changes, but promoting that if they notice something that doesn\u2019t feel right, to present to their GP.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2635,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[2229,2304,331],"class_list":["post-2634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cosmetic-plastic-surgery","tag-breast-cancer","tag-breast-examination","tag-campaign"],"yoast_head":"\n