Doctor, is it good to wear a bra? Will I get breast cancer if I wear it too long? Is it bad to wear a steel bra? Today, I can finally tell those who are still lost in the “bra causes cancer theory” that all aspects of bras, including cup size, newness, daily wearing time, steel brace or age of first wearing, etc., have nothing to do with any kind of breast cancer. In fact, not only breast cancer, bras are not the culprit of those common breast diseases, they just make your symptoms worse, recovery delayed or less comfortable in some cases. The body’s breast shape is most related to genetics and development, the bra is always just an auxiliary tool, don’t be superstitious. 1. Bras and breast cancer The usual reasoning process of “bra cancer theory” is that bras, especially bras with steel brace, will stop the flow of lymphatic fluid to a certain area under the armpit where the bacteria and other wastes from the chest are usually cleared, so breast cancer occurs. This is actually a misconception; they see two conditions happening at the same time and assume that one is causing the other. It’s like falling at dinner today and blaming it on the meal. It is a temporal order and there is no intrinsic causal connection. Because there are so many similar rumors on the Internet, there was a study on the relationship between bra wearing and breast cancer back in 1991, which concluded that women who did not wear bras had less breast cancer, but the difference was not statistically significant, meaning that the hypothesis was not valid. Later, when researchers analyzed the results, they considered that it might be because those women were thinner, and obesity is known to be a risk factor for breast cancer. Recently, the veterans at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle got real again, and with the data at their disposal, they examined the issue scientifically and published the results of this meticulous study in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, the official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), concluding that there is no relationship between bras and any kind of breast cancer There is no relationship between bras and the development of any kind of breast cancer. The idea that wearing a bra causes breast cancer is absurd and has now been verified by modern evidence-based medicine, which proves that there is no relationship between the two. 2. Bra and lobular hyperplasia Lobular hyperplasia is not caused by what kind of bra or how long to wear underwear, but by the imbalance or fluctuation of hormone level in the body causing incomplete restoration of breast glands, so there is no absolute causal relationship between the two. Why do we associate the two together? In fact, lobular hyperplasia is there whether you are in pain or not, it is there, not increasing, not decreasing; when the breast is not swollen and painful, the patient is not aware of the presence of lobular hyperplasia. It is only when we realize the existence of this disease because of changes in hormone levels before menstruation, or a decrease in the pain threshold due to poor physical condition, or poor emotions, resulting in a significant feeling of breast swelling and pain. At this time, too tight underwear or wearing underwear for too long will make the time and degree of breast compression increase, which will aggravate the painful feeling of lobular hyperplasia, so we blame the pain caused by lobular hyperplasia on the underwear. A reminder from Deep Health: Patients with lobular growth who are experiencing the pain it causes are advised to choose soft, loose-fitting underwear that is slightly larger than usual to reduce the time spent wearing it, which can promote recovery. But remember, it is not the culprit for you to suffer from lobular hyperplasia. 3, bras and fibroadenoma Again, the cause of fibroadenoma has nothing to do with underwear. What I want to say here is that for patients who have undergone fibroadenoma surgery, if the incision is right at the edge of the lingerie, please do not wear excessive shapewear or lingerie with wire underwire. The pressure of these hard objects on the fresh scars will affect the blood supply needed for skin healing, and will easily cause scar growth, affecting the appearance and leaving regrets.