Every year in October, there is an annual health campaign organized by major breast cancer charities in order to raise awareness about this disease. If you are suffering from the disease, rest assured, you are not alone in this battle. If you are healthy then this will help you reduce the risk and prevent the illness from developing. In this battle against breast cancer, information is vital.

What is Breast Cancer?

Breast cancer is a particular type of cancer which starts to develop in the breast tissue. While the disease can occur to both men and women, it is mostly women that get affected.

What are the major risk factors?

The 2 single most important risk factors are gender and age. If you are a woman above 40 years old then you have the highest risk of getting the disease. The important thing to remember is that these are only statistics and it does not it will happen to you. However it is vital that you go to periodic checks to make sure.

Other factors also play important roles in increasing the risk of getting the disease. Smoking tobacco will increase the risk anywhere between 25% to 50% depending on your smoking longevity and frequency.
Obesity, alcohol also increases the risk, as well as a lack of physical activity.

Genetics also play an important role, but there is not much you can do here. If you have the bad genes then you need to counter the increased risk by diminishing other risk factors and frequent controls.

How early can it be detected?

It is very important, especially if you are an older woman to periodically go to controls. A mammogram will reveal a cancer in its infant stages. This is why it is important to go to periodic controls. The curing percentage of people who discovered the disease in its infant stage is very high.

It is also important that besides the mammograms, you inspect your breasts yourself. The first symptom is usually a lump that feels a bit different. More than 80% of breast cancers are discovered when the women feel a lump.

Different skin color or texture, skin dimples, change in nipple appearance or fluids leaking from the nipple are all signs that something is wrong and you should immediately go to a doctor.
Treatment

Treatment depends a lot on the stage it is discovered in. The most common way to deal with the disease is with surgery, followed with chemotherapy or radiation therapy. How effective this is depends a lot on the stage of the cancer and how much it has spread in your body.

Finding a permanent cure

The current way of dealing with breast cancer is not very effective, particularly in its final stages. Organizations around the world are struggling to find a permanent cure, but the research process is time consuming and costly. This is why funding is so important in the fight against breast-cancer.