In only fifteen minutes
Mammograms should be an annual routine
By JAMES C. FALCON
editors@bhgnews.com
Getting a mammogram isn’t exactly the most exciting thing a person can do, but in the long run, it can save a person’s life.
“The exam takes 15 minutes out of one day for you not to go through the hours of chemotherapy or surgery or follow up of any sort,” said Denise Alyea, radiology supervisor and certified mammography technician at CHI St. Alexius Health Garrison. “Fifteen minutes out of one day isn’t very much out of one year.”
Mammograms, which take x-rays of breast tissue, are a preventative measure to help detect breast cancer early. More so, a self-exam is something that a person can do themselves in the comfort of their own home, Alyea explained.
“You can start as soon as you start having breasts,” Alyea said. “As soon as tissues change, they always tell you as a young girl to do your breast exams when you get your period.”
As Alyea noted, it never hurts to look early as self-exams also help to identify what normal breast tissue is.
As part of a self-exam, a person should look for changes in breast tissue or in the skin around the breast, as well as redness, swelling or pain, Alyea said.
If any of these are experienced, they should contact their primary care provider. The provider can then make a reference to a radiology department, which can then do a mammogram.
The American Cancer Society recommends that women should, as a baseline, get their first mammogram at age 35; then, at 40, they should become an annual occurrence, Alyea said.
