GREATER EXPOSURE TO MALE BREAST CANCER SYMPTOMS CAN ENCOURAGE CURE

Most people are familiar with the symptoms of breast cancer in women, however, male breast cancer symptoms tend to get overlooked. Statistics show that the prevalence of cancer in men is less than that in women, yet its appearance is much more severe. Men harbor the same tissues and tubules behind their nipples as women do. The lack of the female hormone, estrogen, inhibits the growth of regular breasts in men. Even so, these breast tissues are still vulnerable to contracting cancer.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MALE AND FEMALE SYMPTOMS
There are a larger number of symptoms of breast cancer in young women than those that occur in men. Some of these symptoms include tenderness of the breasts, inverted or flat nipples, swelling of the armpits, and discharge from the nipples. These are all considered early breast cancer symptoms. The most commonly known symptom, the presence of lumps, is also the main breast cancer men symptom. Other male symptoms include bleeding or discharge of the nipples and irregularity of the skin around the breasts.

Male breast cancer symptoms are larger in severity than the symptoms of breast cancer in young women. This is a product of the fact that there is a much smaller level of breast tissue in men, causing very tiny lumps that are hardly noticeable. The lumps are considered early symptoms of breast cancer, whereas the most noticeable symptoms of bleeding and irregularity of the skin, are symptoms of more advanced stages of cancer. By the time the cancer is detected in these latter symptoms, it has already grown to larger sizes and metastasized (moved from the tubules) to other tissues and sometimes other areas of the body. This means that at these stages it can be impossible to cure cancer.

SELF EXAMINATION IN MEN CAN LESSON THE SEVERITY
The severity of cancer at each stage is the same for both men and women. When the cancer is isolated to the tubules and very small, it will express itself through bodily functions in the same way for a man as it will for a woman. This same phenomenon will occur when the tumors are very large and the cells have traveled around the entire body. Since cancer can be detected at earlier stages due to the more prevalent symptoms of breast cancer in young women, the symptoms are typically less severe. When cancer grows to a more advanced stage, the symptoms are much more severe and the cancer is much more difficult to cure.

Male Breast cancer symptoms should have an equal level of exposure to the public as the symptoms of breast cancer in young women in order to encourage male self-examination. Male self-examination will allow a man to notice those tiny lumps before they leave the tubules and become more difficult to remove. Men would not have to wait until there are bleeding or skin irregularities to notice that cancer has developed.