Don't Let Breast Cancer Myths Hurt You

Paralyzing fear about breast cancer keeps many women from getting mammograms or the help they need if they are at risk of getting this disease. This fear is fueled by some common myths that are still floating around out there.

Here are some cancer myths, followed by the facts you need to dispel them:

* Antiperspirants cause breast cancer. To our knowledge antiperspirants aren't linked to the development of breast cancer. Antiperspirants or deodorants can cause a blockage in a hair follicle, which can trigger the lymphatic system and result in a lump and possible infection. But this is not cancer!

* If you don't have a family history you can't get breast cancer. Family history is one risk factor for getting breast cancer but not the only one. Only about 12 percent to 15 percent of women with a family history are diagnosed with breast cancer. They, however, are starting the family history for the next generation.

* Small-breasted women can't get breast cancer. Small-breasted women can get breast cancer, too. Having breasts and being female places a woman at risk, plain and simple. One study has been published that suggests breast reduction surgery may help to reduce the incidence of breast cancer for some women, so there may be potential advantages to downsizing.

* Breast cancer happens only to older women. Breast cancer has no age limit. The average age of diagnosis in the United States is 54; the youngest woman ever diagnosed was a teenager who had a significant family history of premenopausal women being diagnosed in her family. At Johns Hopkins, most of our patients with breast cancer are in their 30s and 40s. In 1970, the average age of diagnosis was 66.

* If you have breast cancer in one breast you are destined to get it in the other. Women who have breast cancer in one breast have around a 5 percent to 10 percent chance of getting it in the other breast over her remaining lifetime. That's a low number if you turn it around and recognize that 90 to 95 percent of women diagnosed with breast cancer will have a healthy, cancer-free breast.

* Mastectomy is better than lumpectomy for treatment. Several studies have validated that mastectomy is not superior to lumpectomy in terms of survival. More extensive surgery doesn't mean better longevity.

* There is a known cure for breast cancer but medical experts are keeping it a secret. Believe me, if there was a known cure, it would be out there and in use. Breast cancer is a complex disease and many factors make it difficult to determine its origin and behavior. I do feel confident saying that we will have a cure one day. We just aren't there yet.