• NCCP Consultant Community Physician advises against waiting till past 30 yrs.

Amidst the increasing local incidence of breast cancer in both males and females, consultant community physicians urged the public to get screened from the age of 20 onwards, the latter age is an advancement on the common perception that it is females above the age of 30 that should get regularly screened.

Speaking to The Daily Morning yesterday (30 September), the Consultant Community Physician of the National Cancer Control Program (NCCP) of the Health Ministry, Dr. Suraj Perera, expressed a view that females as young as 20 should get screened for breast cancer in order to prevent adverse symptoms and death, despite views from many in the medical community that females above 30 are the ones who should be regularly screened. “Even if you are as young as 20, you should do a self-examination and go for an immediate screening if you see any lumps or experience any abnormal breast pain,” Dr. Perera told The Daily Morning. “If this happens, we can prevent a lot of people dying.” Dr. Perera said that while there has been a decrease in breast cancer deaths worldwide because of early screening, many patients in Sri Lanka get screened in the late stages, leading to a high amount of breast cancer deaths in Sri Lanka. “We see about 800 breast cancer deaths a year,” Dr. Perera said. “This can be reduced if people are aware of their body and come to screenings regularly and as soon as they see symptoms.”

Sri Lanka sees approximately 125 male breast cancer patients per year while there are around 5,500 cases of females diagnosed each year. It was reported that the number of breast cancer cases had increased in the country.

Some warning signs symptomatic of breast cancer are, according to the United States’ Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, the United Kingdom’s National Health Service and the World Health Organisation: the presence of a new lump in the breasts or underarms, the thickening or the swelling of a part of the breasts, the irritation or dimpling (may look like an orange peel or redness) of the skin of the breasts, redness or flaky skin in the nipple areas or the breasts, the pulling in (turning inward) of the nipples or pain in the nipple areas, a rash on the nipple areas which may look like an eczema, discharge from the nipples other than breast milk, including blood, any change in the size or the shape of the breasts, and pain in any area of the breasts.