How to Talk to Your Provider About Breast Health in Your 30s, 40s, and at 50+

It may not be the most comfortable conversation to initiate, but talking to your health care provider about your breast health is essential. In fact, one in eight women will be eventually diagnosed with breast cancer, so it potentially could be the most important conversation of your life.

Because breast health evolves as you age, follow this guide for how to talk to your gyno about your breast health in the most important decades.

What to Know About Breast Health at 30:

Breast health starts with knowing your baseline. Talk to your provider about the proper way to monitor your breast health. This can be confusing, especially given the new recommendations against formalized monthly breast self-exams. Ultimately, your goal is to be as familiar as possible with your own breast anatomy so that you can detect changes.

Your 30s also represent a prime time to collect data that will help determine if you are at average or high risk of breast cancer. Gather family history by talking to your mom, sisters, aunts, cousins, and grandparents. This is especially important if you are of Ashkenazi Jewish heritage. If a relative had breast cancer (especially any males), talk to your provider about potential testing to see if you carry a breast cancer gene mutation. A specific mutation called BRCA1 confers a 72% lifetime risk of developing breast cancer, so, if you have it, you will want to discuss specific breast monitoring with your provider.

Family history is important, but you should practice preventive breast health measures even if you find that you have a negative family history. In fact, 85% of women diagnosed with breast cancer have no family history of breast cancer. Optimize your breast health with these lifestyle measures that are associated with decreased breast cancer risk:

Decrease your alcohol intake. If you do drink, limit yourself to one drink a day. Exercise. Get 150 minutes of moderate or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise each week.

* Maintain your BMI within the normal range.

Your 30s are also a fertile decade. If you are trying to prevent pregnancy, carefully discuss this with your provider, as there is an association between oral contraceptive use and the development of breast cancer. If you are pursuing pregnancy in your 30s, breastfeeding can help decrease your breast cancer risk.

What to Know About Breast Health at 40:

In your 40s, continue monitoring your own breasts and practicing lifestyle measures for cancer risk reduction. If you are at average cancer risk, there will be another element of breast health monitoring that begins in your 40s — screening with mammograms.

According to the American Cancer Society, women ages 40 to 44 have the option of getting a mammogram every year (after carefully weighing the risks and benefits with their providers), and women ages 45 to 54 should get an annual mammogram.

Follow up with your provider to discuss your mammogram results. If your mammogram shows high breast density, which refers to the amount of fatty versus fibrous tissue in your breasts, your risk of breast cancer may be increased. In this case, discuss other forms of imaging with your provider.

It’s also important to note if you have dense breast tissue, which can lead to cancer symptoms sometimes missed during an exam. Beth Battaglino, RN-C and CEO of HealthyWomen recommends mammograms as part of your breast exam but also recommends being screened yearly rather than less often to ensure nothing is missed.

Your 40s are also an opportune time to review your reproductive risk factors with your provider. Breast health is negatively affected if you had an early first period, a late first pregnancy (or no pregnancies), and a late onset of menopause. These factors relate to your cumulative lifetime exposure to estrogen, a hormonal fuel that increases breast cancer risk.

What to Know About Breast Health at 50+:

In your 50s, continue with breast awareness practices, lifestyle measures, and screening. As mentioned above, women ages 45 to 54 should get an annual mammogram. Women ages 55 and older can continue with annual mammograms or switch to one every two years until age 74 (or later).

In your 50s, your breast tissue will become fattier and less fibrous. Because of this change, the accuracy of a mammogram will actually improve, and cancers will become easier to detect. This is fortunate, as aging is an independent risk factor for breast cancer; the likelihood of being diagnosed with breast cancer in your 60s or 70s is actually higher than in your 30s, 40s, or 50s.

This may seem intimidating, but your breast health is still in your control. Keep watch for any changes in your breasts, even if they seem innocuous or unrelated. Pay special attention to any nipple discharge or nipple inversions, skin changes (such as dimpling, scaling, redness, or irritation), new lumps or bumps, breast pain, or armpit pain. Also have a low threshold for checking in with your health care provider about any nonbreast symptoms, such as weight loss or night sweats.

For most women, your 50s are a time of transition into menopause. If you have pronounced menopausal symptoms, carefully weigh the risks and benefits of any hormone replacement therapy with your provider, as exogenous estrogens have been associated with increased breast cancer risk. For any medications that are prescribed for menopausal symptoms, you can use RxSaver to save up to 80% at the pharmacy.

Putting It All Together:

Aside from skin cancer, breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women in the United States. However, survival prospects are excellent. In fact, women with cancer found only in the breast have a 5-year survival rate of 99 percent. At any age, you can be proactive about your own breast health by staying aw