As you know in the lovely month of October we raise awareness to protecting ahem the tatas. Ok so here's the deal-e-o. I'm going to take this opportunity to educate because this is actually the arena that is a familiar domain for me in a professional sense. So here we go!
Breast cancer, like prostate cancer for males, is the leading cause of death for women in the United States. If you are a lady with lovely lady humps you owe it to yourself to regularly think about your breasts. I rarely share this side of my world but I have a lot of experience with breast cancer patients. I have scrubbed their mastectomies and the subsequent repairs. I have held their hands while they have agonized with these decisions and unfortunately had a very close friend diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 25. If you are a female aged 50 and over you need to have an annual mamogram. If you are experiencing abnormal discharge from your nipples i.e. clear, greenish, blue, black, or brown you need to be evaluated. Surprisingly bloody discharge is less likely to be a cancerous/malignant process. If you feel a lump or mass that is NOT painful but constant and possibly growing over time you need to be evaluated.
What are things that increase your risk of breast cancer? Earlier age of menarche (menses), age over 50, age at first childbirth (can offer protective benefit against breast cancer), personal history of abnormal biopsy such as ductal carcinoma in situ or lobar carcinoma in situ, first degree relatives (think mother, sister, brother, father) with breast cancer, breast density, estrogen and progesterone use, smoking, history of radiation to the chest (very pertinent for girls who had a childhood history of lymphoma or other types of cancer), post menopausal obesity and many more. Let me say clearly these risk factors are completely inappropriate to gauge your possible future risk of developing breast cancer if you are a BRCA-1 or BRCA-2 gene mutation carrier. African American ladies we are also at increased risk of developing breast cancer and having it detected at later stages with worse outcomes. Be attentive!
Mani-louge
Basecoat/Topcoat: CND Stickey/Poshe Fast Drying Top Coat
Base colors: Essie French Affair and Fancy Gloss Barbie Girl
Stamping polish: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Fast Fuschia and Konad Special Polish in White
Stamping plates: BM 315 & 321
Ok. I'll stop there I don't want to turn this into a sermon, but this is a serious matter and should be taken as such. My goal in life is proactivity not reactivity so there we have it. Now interspersed through this little preaching session is my mani. I wanted to step it up this year. I went to my tried and true bundle monster plates and holographic polishes. Thoughts? I hope I didn't scare anyone here and if you want to know more information about breast cancer and your possible risks there are tables that can help you with risk stratification that you can check out this article here. It's a bit science heavy but is one of the guidelines standard to current clinical practice! If you want to skip all the jargon and just get to the meat and potatoes click here for a risk assessment tool provided by the national cancer institutes.
