What Are the Symptoms of Breast Cancer?

(Click for larger image) Skin Dimpling is a Sign of Breast Cancer.

Breast cancer often causes no symptoms in its early stages. Women with early breast cancer usually do not feel pain or experience any symptoms at all. Screening tests are better able to detect the disease at this time. As the cancer grows, however, it can cause the following changes.

• A lump or thickening in or near your breast or under your arm

• A change in the size or shape of your breast

• Nipple discharge, tenderness, or inversion, meaning the nipple pulls back into your breast

• A change in the way the skin of your breast, areola, or nipple looks or feels. (For example, the skin may look like the skin of an orange.)

These symptoms may be caused by breast cancer or by other, less serious conditions. It’s important to check with a doctor to be sure.