Well if you are a woman and over forty you know you should be getting a mammogram every year.  Put yearly breast cancer screening on your mommy makeoverschedule and don’t forget or blow it off.  Because I have a family member near to me in age that is a breast cancer survivor, I am pretty good about getting my yearly mammogram. 

Get your yearly mammogram

I would like to say that mammograms are the modality of choice for screening early breast cancer. However, the x rays are not infallible and can even miss breast cancer when it is there.  In the case of my relative, even though she had a lump that she felt, it still did not show up on the mammogram due to her dense breast tissue!  It showed up on the ultrasound. 

Advantages of adding an mammogram + ultrasound

For this reason I recommend that perhaps every other year or so (or every year, depending on your family risk) that you stagger in an ultrasound to your breast check regime.  Of course, HMO insurance is way too stringent to pay for this as they only cover the bare minimum recommended screening.  If you can afford it though, it is worth the piece of mind to get an ultrasound done (in a addition to the mammogram, it is not a replacement for a mammogram) and pay cash for it every year or every other year.

Sonecine

At the Hill Breast Center in Pasadena CA they used to have a certain type of ultrasound called a sonecine where they basically do an ultrasound but they have a computer program that stacks up all the images and then a specialist looks at the topography to see if there is anything suspicious.  The specialist moved to an independent holistic wellness center a few years back. Out of pocket breast ultrasounds are now appearing on the menu of aesthetic and holistic health centers as one of their treatments. This is because women are getting extra screenings no top of what insurance may cover to be extra vigilant about their health. The sonecine is a variation on the basic ultrasound with computer images generated.  Every few years I will pay for this extra wellness check.  Even though it costs a few extra hundred dollars, it gives me piece of mind.

Your Health and Beauty

While beauty topics can seem boring and superficial, remember that they are part and parcel to your overall health and well being.  You need to eat right, look and feel your best, and keep up with your health related maintenance appointments. That includes getting a physical every year with blood work, getting your mammogram done, and getting your pap and annual gynecologist appt too.  Either your primary physician or your gynecologist or both should do a physical breast exam as well.  Hopefully they actually know how to do the physical breast exam and don’t delegate that to an inexperienced assistant.

Yes breast cancer takes a long time to develop however if you got it certainly it is best to find out early.  Finding out early could actually save you from having to get the chemo portion of the treatment.  The chemo is just horrendous.

The photograph above really is me and yes I am paying for a sonogram and they put that special top on me, and yes I got the cold blue gel too.  They rub that on and run the ultrasound device systematically over your gelled up breasts.  If I were running this health insurance place, I would force the providers to cover the cost of voluntary bi-annual ultrasounds in addition to regular yearly mammograms.  But since so many women don’t get the cancer, such screening I suppose would cost the insurance too much money. But it’s something you can do on your own if you are willing to pay for it. Health insurance basically sucks and when it comes to your health it is pretty much up to you to take care of yourself.

Like all x-rays you get ionized and radiated by a mammogram but it's a necessary evil because you have to get screened yearly for breast cancer after 40. A mommy makeover must