What age is too young for a mammogram?

There is a history of breast cancer and cancer in my family. My maternal grandmother,aunt, & great aunt passed away from breast cancer and my paternal grandmother had breast cancer.  I was told by one Dr. to start mammograms at 30 another Dr. to start at 35, other people say 40.  I also have other types of cancer on the maternal side of my family (grandfather and uncle with bladder cancerl and great uncle died of lukemia).  I have recently turned 30 and while I am a healthy individual, and I do routing self breast exams, I am concerned that I should start mammograms.  Is there a guideline for people with a history of breast cancer in their family?

[CCF-RN,MSN-rf]

Dear JES574:  The significance of family history is not only about how many relatives but which relatives and the ages that they were diagnosed.  You have no first degree (mother, sister, daughter) relatives with this disease, so your risk is lower than if this were true. There is no absolute in terms of age for mammograms.  The general recommendation is baseline between 35-40 and yearly thereafter.  The difficulty with early mammograms is that the breast tissue tends to be dense and could obscure a density making the reading difficult.  If you are truly concerned, a genetic counselor would be a person who could help sort out your risks, as they pertain specifically to you, and make recommendations for surveillance.