Breast Cancer!?!


Question:

Breast Cancer!?

My aunt was diagnosed with breast cancer. I heard that only women in their 40s can have breast cancer, is this true?
I'm 18.


Answers:

yes, you can have it at age 18. However, I STRONGLY disagree with the person who said age isn't a factor. No matter what data you look at, age is the BIGGEST risk factor for breast cancer. It's very, very rare in women under age 40. The times you can see it is in families with strong family history (generally involving certain mutations, nothign to suggest you're at risk because 1 aunt has cancer), kids who have had radiation therapy, or in very rare, atypical forms of disease. Most women are at very low risk before age 40, and their risk goes up year by year, and probably starts to go up even more after menopause. Self checks at your age are not a bad idea, but to be frank if you find a lump there's a greater than 95% chance you've found something benign. You should start getting mammograms at age 40 or (maybe) 10 years before your aunt's age at diagnosis.




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