According to statistics, over 70% of women experience breast pain. It is safe to say that mammography clinics spend a general amount of time dealing with breast pain related issues. In the opinion of a breast specialist, breast pain is not considered a substantial disease, but the confusion and fear that breast pain brings to patients has a significant impact. The following is a unified answer to several questions that patients are more concerned about. 1, breast pain is really a breast problem? First of all, to popularize a concept, pain is a sensation, this sensory information through the nerve to the brain before there is pain. The sensation in the chest is obtained by the intercostal nerve, which has many, bilaterally symmetrical, starting from the spine and converging forward through the lateral chest wall. Any disease that stimulates the intercostal nerves can cause pain in the chest. Herpes zoster, for example, is a viral infection that lurks in the nerves and typically presents as a rash and painful band along the nerves. Therefore, the first step in identifying breast pain is whether it is a true breast pain or a chest pain caused by another disease. Common non-breast sources of chest pain include: chest wall muscle pain, costochondritis, intercostal neuralgia from various causes, herpes zoster, diseases of the lungs and pleura, and heart disease. These identifications require a careful physical examination and necessary tests by the doctor. 2.Why do breasts hurt? The medical community is actually inconclusive, but there are several hypotheses. The traditional view is that too much estrogen causes edema in the breast, which in turn stimulates the nerves causing pain. Another view is that a lack of progesterone at a certain stage of menstruation can cause pain in the breasts. Some scientists also believe that abnormal secretion of lactogen may be associated with breast pain. However, because the secretion of female hormones varies greatly among different phases of the menstrual cycle and among individuals, studies on these hormones have not yielded consistent results. Recent studies suggest that breast pain may also be associated with increased sensitivity to sex hormones in these individuals. In conclusion, the mainstream view is that hormones are the root cause of breast pain, but the exact mechanism through which they work is unclear. 3. What is the relationship between breast pain and breast cancer? There is no link between breast pain and breast cancer! In a follow-up study done in Edinburgh, England, 220 out of 8504 patients (2.7%) with breast pain as the main symptom developed breast cancer in 10 years, and there were 4740 cases of breast cancer in the region in those 10 years. It can be seen that 4.6% of breast cancer patients will have pain as the main symptom. Thus, modern medicine believes that there is basically no relationship between breast pain and breast cancer. It is just a coincidence that breast cancer is found in the hospital because of breast pain. 4.What tests should be done for breast pain? The most important thing for patients with breast pain is to undergo breast cancer screening. For women under 40 years old, if the pain is symmetrical and diffuse in both breasts and there is no family history, and there is no abnormal finding on palpation by the doctor, no other imaging examination can be done. If the pain is confined to one spot, or if there is any abnormality on the doctor’s examination, ultrasound and/or mammography should be performed, and for women over 40 years old, ultrasound and mammography should be performed to rule out breast cancer. 5.How to treat breast pain? Mild breast pain that does not affect work life does not require treatment. Most of the patients have been clinically examined to rule out breast cancer, and the pain will gradually decrease after the psychological stress is relieved. Many patients have the experience that breast pain is more obvious when they are depressed and irritable and have irregular life. Therefore, a healthy lifestyle, combining work and rest, and maintaining a relaxed mood are the most important means to relieve breast pain. For patients with severe, prolonged pain that interferes with rest, medication can be given. The most effective drugs are tamoxifen and androgen danazol, which can relieve pain in 80% of patients, but most patients refuse to take them because they are worried about the side effects. More foreign application is the health care drug evening primrose oil, clinical research efficiency of 70%, but unfortunately the domestic drug is not available. In China, traditional Chinese medicine is more commonly used, and the commonly used drugs include breast fetish elimination, prolotherapy pills, Xiaojin pills and other drugs to dredge liver and Qi, soften and disperse knots. These drugs have not been clinically validated by strict randomized controlled clinical trials, but they do have the effect of relieving pain from clinical application. 6.What are the dietary concerns? Some studies have shown that there is a significant correlation between a high-fat, high-calorie diet and breast pain, with significant pain relief after two weeks of strict dietary control, so we recommend a relatively light diet. It is important to note that exogenous estrogen is one of the causes of breast pain. Therefore, the intake of supplements or foods containing estrogen or phytoestrogens should be minimized. Because estrogen has the effect of making the skin finer and whiter, many cosmetics and health products will intentionally or unintentionally add estrogen, which requires vigilance. 7. What should I do if I also have breast nodules at the same time? The vast majority of breast nodules are not related to breast pain. Therefore, the nature of breast nodules should not be judged by whether they are painful or not, and breast nodules should be treated separately from breast pain.