How old should a girl be before she has a breast exam

How old should a girl be before she has a breast exam

I'm a PA. I do breast exams every day. I do not believe there is a "too young" element. Self breast exams are a critical component to a young woman's well being. I start teaching young women to do self exams every month as soon as they can understand the significance. Around 11 or 12 years old is a great time, but sooner is not a bad thing. Whatever day of the month is their birthday is the day they perform it each month. If their birthday is the 12th of December, they do it on the 12th of January, 12th of February, etc. I also have my own "clinic" for my medfet friends and require self exams by them.

I think the onset of puberty is probably best. With the changes a girl goes thru at that time, the earlier she understand this part of her overall health, the better she will be.

I agree. If a girl is old enough to have breasts, she is old enough to have breast exams. She needs to learn to do self-exams as soon as her breasts start to develop. Since a female's breasts have to be exposed to do a proper stethoscope exam of her heart, might as well check her breasts while they are uncovered.

I think teenage girls should be taught the proper procedure for doing self breast examinations, especially if there is a history of breast cancer in their families. A young woman should know her body, and be able to detect any changes before it is too late.

My doc never did them til 18. however we learned self exam technique in health class at school.

Maybe fifteen or sixteen by yourself, but I think at the doctor, probably eighteen.

Girls should perform sel-breast exams very early in order to be familiar with that practice. it's a good way to reduce anxiety concerning the self-exams. Now for medical exams I think it's enough to start between 16 and 18. Nowadays breast cancer prevention is based on the study of the breast tissue and further changes in it. It's different from woman to woman and it changes with age. Young girls and women tend to have fybrocistic breasts and sometimes get scared by what they feel in self-palpation. This condition is very common though. Fibroadenoma may also be very frquent in young ladies and are a benign condition being enough a follow-up evaluation.

Breast exams should be performed in all women that go to gynecology consultation, and for the GP in the annual check up after lung and heart auscultation.

Prevention is the key.

Teens should start having an exam so that they know their body and are not afraid of it or prudish.

My gf in High School told me her pediatrician began examining her breasts when he learned she had started her period. She also said that for her yearly checkup she would have to undress to her bra and panties. When it came time for the breast exam he would tell her to remove her bra. Once he finished he would have her put it back on. Then he would have her remove her panties, and spread her legs in the frogleg position. He would then finish up by looking at her backside. When she told me about this I asked her if she was embarrassed by the whole thing. She said she was but after all he was a Doctor and that she was'nt the only girl he had seen before. She also mentioned that there were about 10 girls at our school that saw the same Doctor. She also told who some of them were. I was very greatful for this information.

After they have started their cycle

I was 16 when I received my first breast exam...all was done without commenting anything or teaching self exam. I think it's important to raise awareness among young women and this requires health care providers that are sympathetic with this topic...

My first breast exam was when i was 13. She also taught me how important it is do examin myself once a month. the standard really. Alot of friends had same doctor growing up and its the same with them

The first time a doctor examined my breasts I was sixteen. I was part of my first full gynecological exam.

I think that it is generally recommended that women do the BSE at the same point in their cycle each month. The nature of the breast tissue changes throughout the menstrual cycle and many women find that their breasts become painfully sensitive just before they begin menstruating so that is generally not a good time to do it.

I used to do it the week after my period (when I still had them) or any time I was feeling horny 😉

Jackie

I was in my mid thirties when i had my first one, and that was only because i had to have a medical to get my mortgage.

As a result i was sent for a mammogram thankfully i just have lumpy breasts nothing sinister was detected.

I was 13 and felt really embarrassed.

I showed my daughter how to self examine when she was 14 to get her into the habit and had my son there so he could see what was involved. When she lived at home we would often check each others.

The US Preventative Services Task force recommends against teaching breast self exams and has a very reserved opinion on clinical breast exams. Too many false positives, too little benefit. http://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/uspstf09/breastcancer/brcanrs.htm

The US Preventative Services Task force recommends against teaching breast self exams and has a very reserved opinion on clinical breast exams. Too many false positives, too little benefit. http://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/uspstf09/breastcancer/brcanrs.htm

There seems to be a contradiction here - if self exams are not recommended and if clinical breast exams are not trusted either, how does one find instances of breast cancer before it is too late to do anything about it?

Sounds to me as if the ultimate goal with such recommendations is to say ´tough luck´ or ´who cares?´ to anyone who develops breast cancer. Not a very socially minded attitude.

And this is also somewhat puzzling since US medicine is profit driven and therefore benefits from extra consumption ... annual physicals seem to be the norm, what would be the harm in reassuring women who have doubts about what they feel during a self exam? It would only be erring on the side of caution.

I know. Being a proponent of evidence based medicine is not necessarily a good way to make friends, because people feel it is a cold, almost heartless approach, effectively saying "tough luck" to those who get sick or are worried about getting sick.

What both doctors and patients seem to find difficult to swallow is that in terms of screening, going much beyond what evidence supports is not just "erring on the side of caution", but can actually be harmful. In breast cancer prevention in particular, false positives send women down a spiral of invasive tests, anxiety and the potential for ultimately needless surgery. For younger women, radiation exposure during mammography is also a serious cause for concern. What organizations like the USPSTF try to do is to compare these risks to the benefits.

The idea behind that USPSTF is that is an independent organization and their members are not supposed to have any ties to industry or lobby groups, so their recommendations are supposed to be free from "profit driven" bias. On the other hand, many people have criticized the USPSTF's statement (in particular, about starting mammography at 50, not 40) on the grounds that in their effort to use the best quality studies in the literature, they relied too much on data that was old, neglecting the fact that in the mean time both imaging techniques and treatment options have improved. The whole topic is very controversial.

...false positives send women down a spiral of invasive tests, anxiety and the potential for ultimately needless surgery.

I would think that after being tested and examined, no matter how invasive, that a competent physician or team would be able to discern between necessary and needless surgery.

In most cases, a simple biopsy should be able to determine the necessity for surgery or not. And when there is a cause for concern, I would think a biopsy would be the first procedure of choice to determine the seriousness, not one of the last ... it sounds a bit over-dramatic to therefore talk about sending women down a spiral of invasive tests ...

I wish breast cancer was so simple that a single biopsy could give a definitive diagnosis. Anyway, this conversation is taking us quite far from the original topic of this forum.

Not really sure if this counts but to me it did. When I was young, something like 9 I think, my breasts were just starting to develop, and just my luck, I had a couple of paranoid parents who had no idea what was normal for a developing girl. So, when I asked my mother about my breasts and why they were hard, she freaked out and decided to bring me to the doctor. I lived in a rural area, the family doctor knew me for a while already. When my parents brought me in and described my "symptoms" he actually gave me my very first breast exam. From what I can remember I was just sitting or standing, and he palpated them a bit and pinched my nipples to check for discharge. Then he said that everything was normal and wrote a prescription for some kind of ointment in case I did get discharge. All of this is a bit fuzzy since it's a while ago, but I do remember being quite uncomfortable since I had only just started developing and had no idea what my breasts really meant, and to make things worse the doctor's hand were very rough and dry. Since then my breasts have fully developed and no physician has had the chance to examine them throughly 😄

Annual breast exam is recommended to begin at age 20. Young women may have many issues and concerns with their breasts, but cancer is not usually one of them. A visual examination is advised to assess development of the adolescent breast. Rarely a mammogram and, if indicated, biopsy might be performed to rule out suspected tumors, but this is very unusual. On request of the patient she might be taught self-breast exam to help her understand the natural monthly changes that normally occur. Annual breast and pelvic exams are no longer performed on young women under 21 unless they have specific symptoms or complaints. Sexual activity is not necessarily an indication for a breast or pelvic examination. Ultrasound, diagnostic imaging and laboratory studies are more effective in diagnosing and treating adolescent gynecological conditions. For most women a first Pap smear is recommended at age 21. Each individual patient's history and symptoms will dictate what procedures are appropriate and necessary for her healthcare.

I was 15 almost 16 when my mother told the doctor to do a breast exam and to show me to self examine them. The doctor and I were in the examination room by ourself. I was totally undressed when he said he was done with my exam. And now it was time to show me how to do a breast exam. Since he left that part out of my exam, he began to examine my breasts. He talked his way through the exam so I could learn from what he was doing. I was a C-cup by then and he took about 5 minutes on each breast. It seemed like he was playing with them more than examining them at times. Then he had me examine my breasts for another 10 minutes or so while he watched.

The doctor and I were in the examination room by ourself.

Fifteen years of age and on your own without a chaperone whilst this happened? This doc's ethics might have been questionable at the time, especially as you say he watched you carry out a self-examination for ten minutes.

An underage female in the UK would have certainly had someone else in the room, strange how there are variations like this in different parts of the World.

I don't know how old she should be, but I know I was fourteen and a half and was already wearing a 32B bra when i got my first breast exam. He just took hold of my exam gown and pulled it down to my waist.

I am not qualified to say when, but I was 12. We had one during our yearly physical and another in our dorm 6 months later. You had to sit on the bed topless and when the dr came up to you, you had to stand up and put your hand on your head whilst you were examined, and when the dr had finished you were allowed to sit back on your bed. After the dr and left the room you were allowed to get dressed.

I would say between 13 and 15

Probably right after puberty. So 13 to 15 sounds about right to me. I know our family doctor checked my breasts at about that age.

I could be wrong (probably am) but I would assume a physician, at the girls annual physical, should perform one once the young lady starts to develop. As far as self examines, I would guess the earlier of: (1)14 or (2) or once she has started to developed a fairly "defined" breast (for lack of a better way of saying it).

Surely there must be a qualified person on this site, a doctor or nurse specializing in Gyno. or Oncology who can provide the AMA guidelines.