teenage breast cancer possibilities

stan, we are not professionals here.... we are all just patients who are here to support each other and offer advice on dealing with cancer, dealing with doctors and getting through treatment.

There's not much advice that I can offer about your son's situation but I can tell you that most breast lumps in teenage boys (and yes, teenage boys can develop breast lumps) are hormonally driven and are not cancer.  Breast cancer in men is very rare, and it's even more rare in younger men or teenagers.  So it's extremely unlikely that your son has breast cancer. 

That said, every breast lump needs to be checked out.  Is there any free health clinic or hospital that your son can visit?

There was a poster here I believe his name was EricV, he said he had his lump since he was a teenager I believe and his doctor dismissed it as a cyst. I believe he was in his 30s and he said he was playing with his daughter and he got kicked in the armpit and he was in so much pain he had to go to the ER. It ended up as metastatic BC. He received chemo but didn't make it.

I'm sure it is rare that this is what your son has but Eric was very adamant that guys who felt lumps should go to their doctor to have it checked out immediately. No one on these boards can tell you 100% it is cancer or it is not cancer because we simply are not the doctors who can examine your son and order testing to rule it out.

God bless, I hope you get your answers.

Stan, even with years of training doctors can't tell tell for sure what a lump is by palpating it. It requires imaging and possible biopsy.

1NippleBandit, it is true that "it's not likely cancer", when someone is male and young.  That's just a fact.  In the "Not Diagnosed" Forum, if someone presents with something that has a 10% chance of being cancer and a 90% chance that it's not, many people will provide the reassurance that "it's not likely cancer".  That's an accurate statement.  The likelihood of cancer in a case like this one - a young male with a breast mass - is probably significantly lower than that.  

But that doesn't mean it's impossible.  Even if there is only a 1 in 1000 chance that something might happen (that is in fact the approx. risk that a male might develop breast cancer during his lifetime), someone is going to be that one person.  And that's why most of us who responded included comments to the effect that "every breast lump needs to be checked out" and "It requires imaging and possible biopsy". 

We all agree that stan needs to figure out a way to get his son to see a doctor so that this lump can be investigated further.  Even if the odds of cancer are very low, this is simply not something that anyone should take a chance on.

Good point!  Being in a family where one of the parents is BRCA+ does change the dynamics about male breast cancer completely.