As a breast clinic, there are more and more patients with breast enlargement, from adolescent students to the elderly, and many patients come to the clinic with concerns or even fears about the diagnosis of “breast enlargement” in the ultrasound report. In addition to the professional diagnosis and treatment of the disease, it is sometimes more important for the specialist to change the patients’ perceptions or misconceptions about mastocytosis from the perspective of science and technology than drug treatment, which is also the awareness and responsibility of the breast specialist.
1. The nature of mastopathy
During the monthly physiological cycle of women, the level of sex hormones in the body shows cyclical changes, and the corresponding breast glands also show pre-menstrual hyperplasia (clinical manifestations are swelling and pain, breast swelling, lump enlargement, thickening, etc.), and post-menstrual gland regression (manifestation is the relief of the aforementioned symptoms), which is a physiological phenomenon.
Disorders of menstruation caused by various reasons, or changes in the level of hormones in the body, the latter being the effect of overwork, anxiety and tension or intense emotional changes, poor dietary habits, etc., this cyclical change appears to be disturbed, i.e. excessive premenstrual increase
The clinical manifestations are various pains, lumps, nipple overflow and other symptoms, which we call “breast enlargement disease”. There are professional standards as to whether or not a drug intervention is needed, or whether or not it is called a “disease”, but patients should understand the nature of this change.
2, take off the “disease” hat of breast enlargement!
Many unmarried women in their 20s, or even high school students who have just gone through puberty, worryingly say: “I have breast enlargement”; some young and middle-aged patients say: “I have breast enlargement for a decade or two”. In fact, mammary gland hyperplasia is a very important physiological phenomenon in a woman’s life, from early childhood breast development, to puberty breast development and maturity, to pregnancy and lactation, these stages are in a state of hyperplasia due to different physiological mechanisms and functions. If young women don’t have hyperplasia at this time, they may be in more trouble ^_^. This stage is more suitable to be called “mastoproliferative state”. Therefore, there is no need for young patients to prematurely put on the hat of mastopathy.
The late stages of childbirth until menopause, when the mammary glands are in gradual regression and atrophy, is the age of high incidence of mastocytosis. The doctor will take different treatment methods for different patients from a professional perspective.
3. Do I need to take medicine for simple breast pain?
Many patients, especially young people with “breast enlargement”, come to the doctor with only breast pain as a symptom. The need for medication depends on the degree and duration of pain, the degree of relief after menstruation, and the impact on work and rest. It needs to be clear that 1) pain is not terrible, and painless breast lumps should be even more alert!!! ! 2) Medication is only an aid to relieve symptoms, a good attitude and lifestyle habits are more important. It is not possible to rely on medication to treat breast enlargement for the rest of your life.
4. How to use the most reasonable medication?
The practice of many patients is to take them for a few days when they are in pain, and then stop taking them when they are not in pain or when they get busy and forget about them. The result is years of constant visits to the doctor, constant medication, and constant spending of money, with constant pain and enlargement on the other side. My advice, if the pain is not obvious, relax and have regular checkups; if you need adjunctive medication, standardize your medication and continue for 2 to 3 menstrual cycles, and then stop after the symptoms are relieved without recurrence.
5.Can mastocytosis be cured?
Many patients ask this question. As already mentioned, mastocytosis is a pre-menopausal physiological phenomenon in women. Therefore, there is no question of a cure. As long as there are no occupying lesions, no obvious pain or pain does not affect life and work, then relax and face it openly.
6.Will mammary hyperplasia become breast cancer?
This is the main reason for patients’ clinical fear. Evidence-based medical evidence shows that the risk of cancer in patients with common breast enlargement is 1.9 times higher than the incidence rate in the normal population. Breast hyperplasia in this context is defined as a growth with clear pathological changes, which many patients with clinical pain are not. In other words, the relationship between mastopathy and breast cancer is far from what we fear.
And the most common pre-cancerous lesions that doctors say include atypical hyperplasia and carcinoma in situ (which requires pathological diagnostic evidence) have 5 to 10 times the risk of invasive cancer, and this is the part that clinicians and patients need to be highly alert to!
7.Mastocytosis is not scary, what should we be more concerned about?
Women of different ages have different prevalent diseases, for example, benign fibroadenoma is more common in young patients, and the incidence of breast cancer in young and middle-aged women is increasing year by year and has a trend of youthfulness. Therefore, both patients and doctors should be more concerned about whether there is something growing in the breast, that is, whether there is a lump!!! Ultrasound and mammogram are the two most handy weapons for breast surgeons, it is important!
8.What about breast lumps?
When a breast lump is found on imaging, it is time for the breast surgeon to take the lead in treatment. What patients need to do is to face it openly with a calm mind. The incidence of breast cancer in China is only about 4 per 10,000, a small probability event. The vast majority of breast lumps are benign, so there is no need to panic. Whether active surgical treatment is needed or not depends on the professional judgment of the doctor on one hand and the patient’s mentality on the other.
9, more important than drugs is the state of mind and lifestyle habits
Many patients with clinical breast pain are obviously related to emotions, and Chinese medicine also has a theoretical treatment of emotional morbidity. Therefore, a calm and relaxed mind, adequate rest and sleep, and avoidance of excessive anxiety and tension and other adverse emotions are important for the relief of symptoms. These factors can also affect the female physiological cycle and affect mastocytosis from the perspective of endocrine hormones.
Avoid greasy and high-fat diet, spicy stimulation, and high hormonal diet (artificially farmed poultry, meat, fish, vegetables, etc.); alcohol is a bad stimulus to the breast, and professional women need to pay attention to it. In addition, it is clinically observed that many patients take excessive nutritional supplements, such as Mrs. oral liquid and the like, propolis, pollen, fish oil, sea cucumber, etc., especially menopausal and elderly women, long-term use can cause breast enlargement. Of course, there is no need to lose your mouth for mastopathy. I emphasize the importance of not overdoing, overdosing, or favoring food. Soy products have no effect on the development of breast cancer.
It is not recommended to use preparations for body and breast enhancement, and supplements simply to improve menopausal symptoms, etc. Hormone replacement during menopause needs to be regulated under the guidance of a gynecologist. Breast surgeons strongly oppose self-administration, indiscriminate use, long-term, and excessive supplementation with exogenous estrogens.