A hard lump is considered to be palpated when the examiner or the patient herself palpates the breast with the palm of her finger and feels a fixed, hard lump.
When a hard lump is found, it is important to observe the size, hardness, smoothness of the surface, clearness of the border, and mobility of the hard lump. And when palpating, you need to use the palm surface of your fingers, not the fingertips, and don’t pinch the breast tissue with your fingers.
There are various reasons for the appearance of hard lumps, such as cystic hyperplasia of the breast, fibroadenoma of the breast, breast cancer and so on.
1. If you feel a hard lump in your breast before your period, consider breast cystic hyperplasia, which is most common in women aged 20 to 40 years old and manifests itself as swelling and pain and lumps in one or both breasts, and is cyclical in nature in some patients. Breast swelling and pain is usually more obvious before menstruation, and relieved after menstruation. Physical examination will find that there are nodules of different sizes and tough texture in one or both breasts, which may be tender to touch.
2. It may also be breast fibroadenoma, the high incidence of age is 20 to 25 years old, about 75% for single. The lump grows slowly, is hard like a ball of elasticity, has a smooth surface and is easy to push.
3. It may also be breast cancer, the early manifestation of which is the appearance of a painless, solitary small lump in the breast on the diseased side. The lump is hard, the surface is not smooth, it is not clearly demarcated from the surrounding tissues, the mobility is poor, and the growth is fast.