Thermal Image Breast Pain
Breast pain is one of the most common but most worrying complaint a woman comes to me for, because pain makes women worry about breast cancer.
Most breast cancers however do not cause pain, sometimes a niggling sensation, but usually a tumour grows for many years without any symptoms you can notice.
This lady came with pain in her breasts, but mainly on her outside area of her left breast under the armpit.
In the images we can clearly see a thermally warmer area under the left armpit and from the report we know that this is fibrocystic activity.
Fibrocysts are very common and is also called "lumpy breasts". It is a benign and very common condition and can give pain and tenderness.
Often women notice a difference in size and their breasts may be more sensitive to touch or pressure before their periods.
This is because fibrocysts are sensitive to oestrogen. Once the period starts and oestrogen diminishes, the breasts become smaller and with less tension.
How do we know it is not cancer?
With thermal imaging we can differentiate between a benign condition like breast lumps (fibrocysts) or something malignant.
Fibrocystic activity usually affects both breasts, a tumour usually one
Fibrocystic breasts usually have a diffuse heat pattern, a tumour has a specific blood supply
Fibrocystic activity usually wanes with diminished oestrogen activity, whilst a heat pattern relating to a tumour increases over time
Of course thermography is not the ultimate test for monitoring fibrocystic activity, adding an ultrasound to this test to look at the internal structure is in this case invaluable, but it can help you be aware of what oestrogen is doing in your body and you can learn how to diminish its activity by not use the contaceptive Pill, HRT, high carbohydrate foods and sit less.
Another important point is to be aware of the lymph in the breasts and what you can do to keep it moving, but that is for another blog.
Janet
The images below show fibrocystic activity. We always compare left and right side of the body and here you can see that there is more activity under the left armpit.