breast cancer??

[maimaimai]

Hi, I am 21 years old and have been noticing a penny size lump in my left breast for about 9 years now. It has not increase in size nor cause any pain. medical expense is too high and I cannot afford it, so is there any other factor or does anybody know if it is life threaten and should I take major action before it worsen? Please anybody get back to me on this. Thanks.

[Cleveland Clinic]

Dear maimaimai:  Any lump that has remained unchanged for 9 years in very unlikely to be cancer.  Breasts commonly feel lumpy in young women and perhaps this is what you are feeling.  At 21 you should be getting check ups and a breast examination should be part of that.  You should consider this if you have an opportunity for an examination.

[maddismom]

You are too young to have breast cancer, I think .3% of cases are from women under 30, so the chances of it being cancer are very slim. Also, there is a program called Life for Every woman. If you qualify, then you can obtain a free cancer screening. Just go to cancer.org or google the name of the program to get a number to call for more info.  Also, you may want to call around to your local hospitals, I just had an ultrasound done on my breast, which came back clear:-) and the hospital gave me finaincial aid papers to fill out to help with the cost. Nevertheless, it is probably not cancer. They wouldnt even do a mammo on me bc I am only 27 and they were concerned about exposure to the radiation. If I were you I would not even worry about it. I think if it was cancer it would have grown atleast a little over 9 years. My breast are very lumpy and other woman in my family are the same way. Do not waste time stresssing over this.