What You Know About Breast Cancer is Wrong (Myths on Breast Cancer)

Have you sat with women to discuss breast cancer only to hear the type of things they say as a result of their knowledge about the condition? Oh! you will be so surprised at how much myth, and false knowledge they have about breast cancer but before I start spewing some of those things, let me explain what breast cancer is.

Breast Cancer as the name implies is a disease that occurs in the breast. It is the abnormal growth of breast cells out of control forming a tumor. Breast cancer can go beyond the breast tissues in cases where it is not quickly checked and it can become fetal when it begins to get to other organs especially reaching the brain but then not all what you know about breast cancer is true. In fact, so many of the things you know are nowhere close to the truth.

https://commons.wikimedia.org

The first I will like to discuss here is one that is quite shocking and I haven't seen any science prove for it that Underarm Roll ons like antiperspirants, and deodorants can cause breast cancer. There is no conclusive scientific evidence that has linked antiperspirants with breast cancer and until we have a definitive conclusion on this topic, it will remain false.

Another one was the one I heard one of the women saying that once there is a lump in the breast of a woman, it is tantamount to breast cancer. Not every breast lump can be breast cancer, however if there is a new persistent lump or changes in the breast skin, then it is advisable to visit the hospital and see a medical doctor to examine the breast clinically.

https://www.pexels.com

There is one familiar attitude with market women and so many other women here in Nigeria, and that is putting money in the breast side. In other to discourage this habit, people came up with a lie saying that putting money in breast can lead to breast cancer. While the habit of putting money in bra is wrong, there is no conclusive evidence that putting money in bras close to the breast can lead to breast cancer. It is not advisable to put money in bra actually because the money would have come in contact with high amount of germs but there is no conclusive evidence for it leading to cancer.

Another lie that people tell themselves especially men is that "men do not get breast cancer". Well, that is a lie because men can have breast cancer. If you did not know, Singer Beyonce's father was diagnosed with breast cancer and 1 in 100 breast cancer diagnosis is a man. So you do not need anyone to tell you that men can also have breast cancer since they also have breast tissues.

One that is very funny is how people treat breast cancer like common cold. Breast cancer isn't contagious, it cannot be transferred from one person to another via air or touching the person. Just as they say this, people still castigate women with bigger breast telling them that they have a higher chance of getting breast cancer but in reality, this is false. There is no connection between women with big breast and chances of getting breast cancer. It is important to always check your breast regularly to prevent stories that touches the heart because there is a high chance of survival if the tumor is caught early.

It will be good I close with this myth I hear very often where they say all breast cancers are the same. Point of correction, all breast cancers are not the same. Breast cancers can range from invasive lobular carcinoma, phyllodes tumor, lobular carcinoma in situ, inflammatory breast cancer, invasive carcinoma of no special type, ductal carcinoma in situ and so on. If you have heard things like injury on the breast can lead to breast cancer, or putting on bras can lead to breast cancer, you do not need to worry because they are all false and there are no medical conclusions or corroborations to them.

https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/breast-cancer
https://www.cancer.org/cancer/risk-prevention/chemicals/antiperspirants-and-breast-cancer-risk.html
https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/myths/antiperspirants-fact-sheet
https://cancer.stonybrookmedicine.edu/breast-cancer-team/patients/bse/breastlumps
https://breastcancernow.org/about-breast-cancer/awareness/breast-cancer-causes/10-common-breast-cancer-myths-dispelled/
https://www.cdc.gov/breast-cancer/about/men.html
https://www.nationalbreastcancer.org/breast-cancer-myths
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/breast-cance
https://www.nationalbreastcancer.org/breast-cancer-myths/all-breast-cancers-are-the-same/
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/322817
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12131664/