October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, but instead of thinking about cancer, why not think about how you can have healthy breasts?

Women are encouraged to get a mammogram so they can find breast cancer as early as possible. But instead of early detection, let’s be proactive and identify risk factors so plans can be put into action to improve the health of the breasts and reverse developing pathology. This is prevention—not just early detection.

Mammograms image the structure of the breast and thermography images the physiology (for example, an X-ray of the heart shows its size and where it is in the chest whereas an EKG shows its functioning). Thermography "shows" the function of the breasts and how healthy they are.

Mammograms are after the fact—they can only see what is already there. They can identify a mass, if it is large enough, but cannot distinguish the difference between a benign lump and a cancerous tumor. A tumor must be fed by blood vessels and that vascular formation starts many years before the tumor begins to grow. The vascular feed produces heat which can be seen with thermal imaging. This is an indication that either the body is preparing to produce a cancerous tumor or the mass that is present is most likely cancerous.

There is a wide margin between healthy breasts and breast cancer and it’s helpful to know where you fall within that spectrum. There are many factors such as dense and fibrocystic breasts, calcifications, lymph congestion, inflammation, thyroid dysfunction, hormone imbalances and more which can contribute to dis-ease and a possible unfavorable diagnosis down the road.

Thermography can tell you how healthy the breasts are instead of just screening for breast cancer. It also has the potential to truly detect breast cell anomalies long before mammography can detect cancer.

It’s important to know what’s happening so you can make positive changes to increase your breast health. Thermography is an excellent tool for you and your healthcare practitioner to help identify specific challenges and then monitor the results of the changes you make.

There are many things that we can do to avoid breast cancer; knowing the risk factors should be at the top of the list. With proper risk assessment which includes different testing modalities, the patient is able to determine her risk factors and develop an action plan to improve the breast tissue or even reverse the existing developments. Knowledge is power. Hopefully, you may see that you have a low risk for breast cancer so you have one less thing to worry about.

 

June Drennon, certified clinical thermographer, operated a successful thermography business in Tennessee for 10 years and owned a clinic in the wellness field for 15 years (with certifications in colon hydrotherapy and electro-lymphatic drainage therapy). She is passionate about working with men and women who care about the state of their health and believe that prevention is better than detection. Today, she serves the Tampa Bay area as the owner of Tampa Bay Thermography. For more information and appointments, call 727-729-2711, email [email protected] or visit TampaBayThermography.com. See ad page 21.