Every woman should do a monthly self exam of her breasts. Her doctor can show her how this is done. Women over forty should have regular mammograms done. The best way to save your life is to catch breast cancer in its early stages.

If you feel anything out of the ordinary during a self examination, note the area and tell your doctor right away. If you experience a change in the appearance of a nipple, there is discharge, or you find a lump or an area of hard tissue, it is imperative that you be examined by a doctor. Also notice if you have any kind of soreness or pain.

Catching breast cancer early is the key to saving your own life. If the doctor determines that you do indeed have a lump in your breast that is out of the ordinary, the next step would be to perform a biopsy. This is an outpatient procedure where the doctor takes some of the tissue from the lump in order to test it and see if it is benign or malignant. A benign tumor is not cancer. If it is malignant, then breast cancer will be the diagnosis.

If a diagnosis of breast cancer is made, your doctor will then determine which stage of cancer you have and how much it has spread. If the cancer is caught early enough, a mastectomy (breast removal) may not be necessary. Instead, you may opt for hormone therapy, radiation, chemotherapy and/or a lumpectomy - not necessarily in that order. If you do end up having a mastectomy, it is likely that lymph nodes will also be removed. Lumpectomies are usually tried before mastectomies when the cancer has not progressed into a later stage.

Surprisingly, only 10 percent of breast cancer is considered to be genetic. This is counter to what was believed just a few years ago. The fact is that breast cancer can happen to anyone whether or not they have family members who have had the disease.

Because of better education regarding breast exams and early diagnosis, more women are surviving breast cancer. Ask your doctor how to do a self breast examination if you are not already doing them. He or she will show you how and will tell you about all the symptoms for which you should be looking.