Lump in right breast - male 35 y/o

sry110

Good Morning All,

This is my first time posting here. I am a 35 year old male in generally good health (as far as I know!). Last Sunday I was sitting down playing guitar, leaned over/down to pick something up and in doing so sort of pinned the body of the guitar between my lap and my right breast. I noticed a soreness on my breast and started feeling around, and noticed an elongated lump starting right under the top of the areola (and maybe a little bit above the areola) and extending a little bit down and to the right, away from my chest. It was a bit sore and there was a slight bit of redness just outside (above) the areola. I checked my left breast and did not feel any similar contour.

I went to my primary doctor on Monday and he definitely felt the lump, said he was not overly concerned but was obligated to send me in for imaging. He thought maybe it was lymph node inflammation and put me on an antibiotic to see if it solves the problem (although I'm not convinced there are any lymph nodes in this location...). Basically, if the lump decreases or goes away, then it's not something to worry about. Two days later I still have the lump, which I expected. Whether it is changing in size is difficult to say.

Meanwhile I went in this morning (Wednesday) for a mammogram and ultrasound and the doctor said that the the mammogram did not show anything abnormal, and the ultrasound did not show any abnormal tissue. She said that she would be concerned if the lump was pea or marble size/shape, but since this lump feels more like a "ridge" she did not think it was anything cancerous. This actually concerned me a bit because I read an article about a man who had a ridge shaped lump that turned out to be breast cancer. So she told me not to touch / agitate it for a week and then check it to see if it's smaller or gone.

So while it's nice to get the radiology report showing benign condition, I'm a little bit stuck on the doc's view that it's not a concern because it's not pea or marble shaped, when there is evidence that male breast cancer can manifest as a more elongated growth. I have also read articles suggesting that knowledge of male breast cancer among doctors is lacking in general simply because they have far less experience dealing with it.

All of that being said - does it sound like I should be going elsewhere to get a second opinion?

MTwoman

sry, so sorry that you're here, concerned about your breast health and not feeling better after your doctor's evaluation. Since I'm not an expert in men's bc, I'm going to try to get someone else to come and 'talk' to you. He is in Australia, so it might take some hours before he'll see this post. Hang in there!

Traveltext

Welcome to the forum sry110. You are correct in saying that most doctors are not looking out for breast cancer in men, so good on you you for not doing the normal man thing and ignoring your lump. In any case your doc has sent you for a mammo and an US and is monitoring you, so there's not much more she can do at this stage. I'd adopt a watch and wait position and return to your doc if the lump doesn't go away.

I have to say that I do get many men coming here with a similar story and I haven't had any of them end up with a bc diagnosis. Men who get this disease are, on average, in their mid- sixties. That said, stay on your case and please report back when you have more news.

sry110

Many thanks for your reply. I had mixed feelings when my primary doc ordered the mammo/ultrasound - on one hand, I was hoping he would feel the lump and say "seen this a million times, it's (insert benign condition here) and it'll go away in a week" and tell me to go home - on the other hand, I'm glad he is taking this seriously and recommending steps to exhaust all possibilities.

In general I like to err on the side of caution, and considering that my father had prostate cancer (leading to prostatectomy) and most recently IPMN (pre-pancreatic cancer, leading to pancreatectomy), I'm extra sensitive to this sort of thing and most certainly in "nip it in the bud" mode.

I'll do my best to follow the radiologist's orders to avoid touching/agitating the lump until next Wednesday, then following up with my primary doc regardless of whether the lump has diminished or is remaining/growing. In the meantime I am looking forward to any additional feedback I can gather from this forum!

Traveltext

Hopefully you'll get more feedback. Since your dad had PC, you need to start having PSA readings taken annually from age 40. And insist your doc feels the lump when you see him next.

sry110

Yep, I'll press the doc to press the lump : )

Regarding the prostate cancer, I had to go in earlier this year for some weird pain/tingling I was having in the groin area (which ended up being either epididimitis or groin muscle pain radiating in toward my genitals), and because of the symptom and the family history I was treated to my first digital rectal exam. Wowee! I figured I had until 40 until I would have that experience. I certainly feel all grown up now!

EDIT - I should add, the doc said everything felt normal down there and we did have a brief discussion regarding PSA screening. He certainly did not recommend it until at least age 40, and basically said "let's talk about it again when you're 39". I felt OK with that approach.