Mild itchy breast with rashes - Potential IBC?

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pavocado
pavocado Member Posts: 1
edited December 2020 in Not Diagnosed But Worried

Hello I'm 18. I'm new to the community. I have had some strange symptoms for last 2 weeks that I'm so concerned.

In the first week, my left breast felt a bit itchy. It was not intense and did not interrupt my daily activities much though I scratched it sometimes. There were no lumps, no rashes, no redness, nothing but mild itching in left breast and sometimes underarm and left back. I haven't recently changed my bras, clothes, soap or any products that apply on my skin. As a week went, the itch increased a bit but it was not too intense. I searched on internet and it said that moisturizer might help soothing the itch. I applied the moisturizer on my left breast and the itch seemed to lessen at first. However, two days after, there were several small rashes appeared on my left breast just after a night and my left nipple became so sensitive when I wore loose shirts. I kept applying moisturizer but it turned out that the rashes spreaded more and have tiny fluid in the middle so I stopped using it. Afterwards, the rashes didn't spread any more but my left breast was still mildly itchy. I have been using a kind of traditional liquid medicine for skin disease and applying it on every rashes. It has been 4 days and these rashes seem to be smaller and less red but the itch persists. I'm not sure what my condition really is. I keep googling and symptoms of inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) makes me so afraid. It said that some symptoms of IBC such as redness may come and go. I don't have redness on my breast but I don't know if rashes of IBC can come and go too? Seeing the photos of rashes of IBC make me so scared as some of them look nearly the same as mine. I'm too young I'm just 18 and have no family history so the chance of getting cancer is rare but I'm worried that may be I fall into those rarest cases :( I once suffered from hypochondria (health anxiety) and it took me quite a long time to get over but with my current conditions it seems that i'm suffering from it again :(

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  • AliceBastable
    AliceBastable Member Posts: 3,461
    edited December 2020

    It sounds like whatever was causing the itch wasn't as bad as your reaction to the cream you applied. With an itch, perhaps you should see a dermatologist. If your shoulder was itchy, you wouldn't think you had cancer. Don't assume the most extreme thing just because of the location. IBC is really rare and especially at your age, almost unheard-of. Good luck.

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  • Moderators
    Moderators Member Posts: 25,912
    edited December 2020

    pavocado, welcome to BC.org! We know it's hard not to worry, specially if every time you look on google on breast redness or rashes it led you right to inflammatory breast cancer, but IBC is a rare form of breast cancer that according to the American Cancer Society, only about 1% of ALL breast cancer cases in the United States are inflammatory breast cancers.

    We would recommend you to visit a dermatologist and get your breast examined. That will help ease your mind. Also, you may find this thread helpful: Topic: For those worried about IBC.

    Good luck, and please come back to let us know how you're doing!

    Warmly,

    The Mods




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  • Beesie
    Beesie Member Posts: 12,240
    edited December 2020

    pavocado,

    I agree with AliceBastable - you should see a Dermatologist.

    As the Moderators said, IBC represents only 1% of all breast cancer diagnoses. Breast cancer in a teenager represents much less than 1% - it's only a handful of cases a year. So for someone aged 18 to develop IBC, well, nothing is impossible but it would be so rare than any case would be written up in medical journals.

    A skin rash, on the other hand is very common. So see a Dermatologist.

    Good luck, and let us know how it goes!

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  • LivinLife
    LivinLife Member Posts: 1,332
    edited December 2020

    I agree with the others - schedule an appointment. I hope you've already called... and please check back in to let us know what they say.... I love your screen name by the way : )

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