As soon as women reach their teen years, they need to start performing breast self-exams each month to check for lumps that could be early signs of breast cancer. Problem is, many women don't know perform these checks properly. Breast cancer teaching aids allow you to teach them the basics without high potential for embarrassment.
Instructions
1. Tell your students to look at their models to make sure there aren't any changes in shape, color or size. Have them feel the "skin" for any swelling, puckering or changes in the position of the nipples. Let them know that they need to do this twice: once with their arms at their sides and once with them raised above their heads.
2. Instruct students on check their breasts. Have them lay their right hand on the "breast" with their fingers flat and together. Feel it with the pads of their fingers using a circular motion. Each individual circle should not be bigger than a half dollar. Make sure they check every spot, from the nipple to the underarm, using light pressure in the center and more pressure as they reach the more dense tissue on the outside of the breast. (If you're using a balloon, you can designate each pressure area with a marker line.) Tell them they need to do this twice also, once while lying down and once while standing, so they can be sure to get all the angles. Once they've checked with their right hand, have them repeat the exercise with the left.
3. Explain what a potentially cancerous lump will feel like. In most cases, it will be an irregular shape and will have a hard and dimpled surface. Pass around a couple golf balls or a tightly packed bag of pebbles to give students a good example. Tell them that--if they feel anything like this--they are to contact a doctor immediately. The survival rate is much higher when cancer is caught early.
4. Remind everyone that they still need to get their breasts checked by a gynecologist once a year when they go in for their regular exam.
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